National Conference leader Omar Abdullah has taken oath as the first chief minister of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) on Wednesday. Along with Omar, five other ministers were also sworn in. Surinder Choudhary was sworn in as Deputy CM. The only woman among the five sworn in so far was Sakina Itoo, who won her seat in the Assembly from Noorabad constituency in south Kashmir's Kulgam. Javed Rana, who won from Mendhar in Rajouri, former minister, Javed Dar, independent legislator from Chamb in Jammu, Satish sharma are among others who took oath. Congress stays out of govt: Hours ahead of the oath-taking ceremony, the Congress has taken a call to stay out of the government and provide outside support. "Congress won't join council of ministers in J-K for the moment, party is unhappy that statehood has not been restored to J-K," JKPCC chief Karra told PTI. As the UT government can have only 9 ministers, including the CM, Omar was expected to allot one Cabinet berth for the grand old party, which won just six seats in Assembly polls. The swearing-in ceremony, held at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre, was attended by several INDIA bloc leaders, including Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Mallikarjun Kharge, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Left leaders Prakash Karat and D Raja, DMK's Kanimozhi, and NCP's Supriya Sule. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also attended the event.
