PDP’s Mufti Mohammed Sayeed takes oath as J&K CM with full ministerial team

With this, there will be no possibility of any further expansion in the Mufti’s ministry as going by the strength of 87-member Legislative Assembly, there can be maximum of 25 ministers including Chief Minister in the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah, former president Lal Krishan Advani, union ministers Murli Manohar Joshi, Dr Jitendra Singh, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar were among various dignitaries including senior BJP and PDP leaders leaders present on the occasion.

Significantly, giving enough signals of their disapproval to the great reconciliation between different political ideologies vis a vis two regions who always looked at each other with suspicion, both the National Conference and Congress including former chief minister Omar Abdullah stayed away from the swearing in function.

Mufti’s ministerial team has 16 cabinet ministers including Deputy Chief Minister and eight ministers of state. Two nominated women MLAs – Priya Sethi and were also sworn in as ministers of state. Peoples Conference chairman Sajjad Lone too was among those newly sworn in cabinet ministers.

While Mufti, Nirmal Singh and others took oath in English, Hindi and Urdu, Lal Singh took oath in Dogri.

Sources say that Mufti initially wanted to begin with a small team, but agreed to have his full team on day one. This idea behind it was to avoid any further speculations and infighting in the party.

Full JK TEAM

Mufti Sayeed…Chief Minister
Nirmal Singh….Deputy Chief Minister

Cabinet ministers

Abdul Rehman Bhat (Veery)
Chander Parkash Ganga
Javed Mustafa Mir
Lal Singh
Abdul Haq Khan
Bali Bhagat
Syed Basharat Ahmed Bukhari
Sukhnandan Choudhary
Choudhary Zulfikar Ali
Sajjad Gani Lone
Haseeb Drabu
Ghulam Nabi Lone
She’d Mohammad Altaf Bukhari
Imran Hussain Ansari
Nayeem Akhtar

Minister of State

Tsering Dorjey
Abdul Majeed Paddar
Sunil Kumar Sharma
Mohammad Ashraf Mir
Abdul Ghani Kohli
Priya Sethi
Pawan Gupta
Ashiya Naqqash

Highlights: 

BJP leaders don’t care about the publicly stated ideological/principled positions on SS, NCP & now PDP! #JhumlaParty pic.twitter.com/Am1DqwujQR

— Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : PDP’s minister Mohd Ashraf Mir defeated ex-CM Omar Abdullah in elections. @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

Ladakh gets a minister but Kargil doesn’t while Srinagar gets 3. There will be considerable heartburn in Kargil at this development.

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) March 1, 2015

Congratulations to the newly sworn in Ministers of J&K. All good wishes for the discharge of your duties.

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) March 1, 2015

Ashraf was the same person who fired an AK47 to celebrate when he beat me. What the hell will he fire today to celebrate becoming minister:)

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : BJP’s Chander Prakash Ganga, party’s Brahmin face, takes oath as Minister @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : PDP’s Asiya takes oath as Minister of State @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : A former BJP leader, Gupta contested as rebel after being denied party mandate. @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : Independent MLA Pawan Gupta (Udhampur) takes oath as Minister of State @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : Priya Sethi’s husband wanted to contest from Jammu East but was not given mandate by BJP. @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : BJP leader Yudhvir Sethi’s wife Priya Sethi takes oath as Minister of State @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : Kohli’s father-in-law was earlier a Cong minister in JK. @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

11:54 am | A suave politician, Sayeed, who has changed political allegiance frequently, was at the helm of internal security as Home Minister when militancy reared its head in the Valley triggering the infamous exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990.

#JKgovt : BJP’s lone Muslim MLA Abdul Gani Kohli, who won from Kalakote, takes oath as Minister of State @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : PDP’s Mohd Ashraf Mir takes oath as Minister of State @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : Sunil Sharma defeated NC heavyweight and ex-Home Minister Sajjad Kitchloo in polls. @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : BJP first-term MLA Sunil Sharma of Kishtwar takes oath as Minister of State @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : PDP’s Abdul Majeed takes oath as Minister of State @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : Tsering Dorjay of BJP takes oath as Minister of State @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : PDP spokesperson Nayeem Akhtar, a MLC, takes oath as Minister @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

BJP Ministers swearing allegiance to the same constitution of J&K that Shyama Prasad Mukherjee died trying to get rid of #irony

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : PDP’s Maulvi Altaf Ansari, whose father was a former minister and prominent Shia leader, takes oath as Minister @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : PDP’s Sayeed Mohd Altaf Bukhari takes oath as cabinet Minister @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

Story continues below this ad

11:41 am | A man of perseverance and great survivor, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has an astute political sense honed by decades of experience in Kashmir politics that has stood him in good stead in crafting a delicate alliance with BJP to return as Chief Minister for the second time.

#JKgovt : PDP’s MLA Ghulam Nabi Lone takes oath as cabinet Minister @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt: Former JK Bank chairman Haseeb Drabu of PDP takes oath as cabinet Minister, could be Finance Minister @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : Sajjad’s father Abdul Gani Lone was also a minister many decades ago. @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : Ex-separatist leader Sajjad Lone, who contested in alliance with BJP, takes oath as cabinet Minister @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : PDP’s Zulfikar Chaudhary, whose father was also a minister earlier, takes oath as cabinet Minister @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

Sukhnandan defeated minister and NC nominee Ajay Sadhotra in Assembly polls @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

11:34 am | PDP-BJP were once ideological foes, now partners.

#JKgovt : BJP’s second-term MLA from Marh Sukhnandan Choudhary takes oath as cabinet Minister @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : PDP’s Basharat Bukhari takes oath as Cabinet Minister @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

Congratulations to Mufti Mohd Syed Sb on assuming the office of CM of J&K. I wish you all the very best for your term as CM.

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : Second-term MLA Bali Bhagat (BJP) takes oath as cabinet min. @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : pDP’s Abdul Haq Khan takes oath as cabinet min @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

11:25 am | BJP’s Lal Singh takes oath in Dogri language as Minister in J&K Govt.

11:23 am | The framework for the coalition government called Agenda for Alliance was written by PDP’s Haseeb Drabu and BJP’s Ram Madhav after a two month long negotiations where the “two parties managed to arrive on a consensus on various sensitive issues, transcending major ideological differences”.

#JKgovt: PDP-BJP alliance to make common minimum prog public later today @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : Among those attending oath ceremony are PM @narendramodi , LK Advani, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, BJP prez Amit Shah @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : BJP’s Kavinder Gupta could be first-ever Speaker of JK Assembly @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

11:19 am | While PDP was the largest party with 28 seats in the 87 member house, BJP won 25. NC won 15 while Congress managed to secure 12. Sajjad Lone led Peoples Conference – an ally of the BJP – has won two seats.

11:18 am |

Watch LIVE: PM @narendramodi and other dignitaries at the oath taking ceremony of Shri Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. https://t.co/jrb1g16EG5

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 1, 2015

11:18 am | This is for the first time that BJP would be part of coalition government in J&K. The PDP-BJP coalition was negotiated because of a fractured verdict during the recent assembly polls.

Former Cong MP Lal Singh, who joined BJP just before polls, to also take oath. He had criticised Modi before LS polls @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : AR Veeri of PDP, an ex-Min, takes oath. @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

#JKgovt : Nirmal Singh is first-ever BJP minister in JK. @IndianExpress

— Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) March 1, 2015

Story continues below this ad

11:16 am | Abdul Rehman Bhat takes oath as the Minister of State of Jammu and Kashmir.

11:14 am | PDP-BJP govt takes oath in J&K.

11:12 am | Nirmal Singh takes oath as deputy CM.

11:10 am | Mufti Sayeed takes oath as CM.

11:05 am | PM Modi arrives for swearing-in ceremony.

11:03 am | 12 PDP, 11 BJP ministers likely in new cabinet.

11:02 am | PM Narendra Modi to attend swearing-in ceremony.

11:02 am | 25-member cabinet to take oath today.

11:00 am | Nirmal Singh to be sworn-in as deputy CM.

10:55 am | Nirmal Singh: It’s an alliance for governance.

10:38 AM | Next deputy CM Nirmal Singh of BJP reaches the venue

10:33 AM | Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone arrives at the swearing-in venue.

10:20 am | L K Advani, M L Khattar and Amit Shah reach Jammu for Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s swearing-in ceremony as CM.