Many faces of Mufti’s parivar

Abdul Rehman Bhat alias Veeri, 58
Bhat, known as a grassroots leader, represents Mufti’s native constituency Bijbehara and is one of the seniormost PDP leaders in the House.

Haseeb Drabu, 53
Seen as a contender for Finance Ministership, Drabu is an economist who started his career from Planning Commission. He later became national editor of Business Standard. He is known for his Kashmiri nationalist views.

Altaf Bukhari, 56
The businessman-turned politician holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Science and is involved in philanthropic activities. To project him as a PDP face in Srinagar, the party ,might give him an important portfolio.

Abdul Haq Khan, 61
A law graduate, Khan in 1983 joined People’s Conference, then led by Abdul Gani Lone. He joined PDP in 2003. Hailing from the Pahari tribe, Khan’s inclusion in cabinet will represent the community and the Kupwara district.

Bashaarat Bukhari, 52
He was a renowned broadcaster in Radio Kashmir, which he quit in 2003 to join PDP. His selection in the cabinet will represent the Baramulla district from where PDP won four seats.

Javed Mustafa Mir, 44
Known to be of a temperamental nature, Mir was in the council of ministers during the PDP-Congress coalition government but had to resign after he beat up a chief engineer of the Power Development department.

Ghulam Nabi Lone, 60
Lone earned a ticket into the Council of Ministers by defeating NC strongman and six-time MLA Abdul Rahim Rather from Chrar-e-Sharief. Lone worked as a lawyer earlier.

Abdul Majeed Padder, 55
Padder’s inclusion into the cabinet has come as a surprise. A former general secretary of the state Congress, Padder joined PDP four years ago.

Mohammad Ashraf Mir, 45
Mir is a business graduate who joined his family’s construction business. He was elected to the legislative council in 2012 and was PDP’s first member in upper house from Srinagar.

ASIEA NAQASH, 44
The lone woman MLA from PDP is a law graduate. Before joining politics, she was into social work. She is sister-in-law of PDP leader and Srinagar MP Tariq Hameed Karra.

Chowdhary Zulfikar Ali, 44
When PDP was seen as a Kashmir-centric party, he was among the first leaders of the party outside the Valley. He is a  business graduate who also holds a Master’s degree in law.

NIRMAL SINGH, 58
The soft-spoken leader has had past associations with ABVP and RSS. A History professor in Jammu University, Singh is an expert in organisational matters, but political pundits say he lacks administrative experience.

BALI BHAGAT, 50
The seniormost among 25 BJP MLAs, Bhagat is a graduate and was was associated with ABVP since his school days. He is considered an outsider in Raipur Domana, from where he won.

Lal Singh, 56
A new entrant to BJP, Singh had been elected twice to Lok Sabha from Udhampur on a Congress ticket. He served as health and medical education minister in the PDP government in 2002.

Chander Parkash Ganga, 54
A first time MLA from Vijaypur, Ganga was a physical education teacher in the state government’s education department before joining BJP.

Sukhnandan Choudhary, 53
The two-time MLA from Marh segment, Choudhary is a BJP veteran who trounced NC’s Ajay Sadhotra twice.

Abdul Gani Kohli, 67
The retired technocrat is the BJP’s only Muslim MLA. He was, however, elected from a predominantly Hindu constituency, Kalakote.

Sunil Sharma, 39
The RSS man earlier worked with security forces on counter-insurgency and his name cropped up in the communal flare-up in Kishtwar in 2013.

Priya Sethi, 38
Wife of state BJP secretary Yudhvir Sethi, she had earlier been elected councillor to Jammu Municipal Corporation. Sethi has been nominated to Assembly by the government to ensure an adequate representation of women in the Lower House.

Pawan Gupta, 48
Elected from the Udhampur segment as an Independent, he is son of BJP leader Lala Shiv Charan Gupta. Earlier a BJP worker, Gupta left the party when BJP gave a ticket to Pawan Khajuria during 2014 assembly polls.

Tsering Dorjey, 66
The BJP candidate from Leh was elected unopposed to the legislative council. He was at the forefront of the campaign launched in demand of Union Territory status to Ladakh.

Sajjad Lone, 49
A first time legislator from North Kashmir’s Handwara, Lone is the youngest son of Peoples Conference founder Abdul Gani Lone. Lone, who holds a degree in economics from Cardiff University, London, took over the party’s reins in 2002 when his father was assassinated by militants. An eloquent orator, he is going to be part of the Mufti cabinet from the BJP quota.