Sopore delivered the biggest mandate of 2024. Its MLA is still waiting for the berth Omar promised. Three vacancies, many claimants — and a decision now deferred till after the GST Council meet and a party president consult.
Srinagar, Oct 09: The much-delayed expansion of the Jammu and Kashmir Council of Ministers will be taken up only after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah returns from the GST Council meeting in Delhi and holds consultations with National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah. For Sopore MLA Irshad Rasool Kar, that means the wait continues and with it, the question of whether the promise made to him can be kept.
Speaking to reporters in Srinagar earlier this week, CM Omar said the Assembly session had concluded and the cabinet exercise could have been undertaken, but his immediate engagement was the GST Council meeting. So we will complete it and then we will consult with Dr Farooq Abdullah, party president, and we will do what we have to do, he said.
No date has been announced. The timing now hinges on the NC vice president’s return from Delhi.
The promise
During the 2024 campaign, Omar had said that if Irshad Rasool Kar won by a substantial margin from Sopore, he would be appointed directly as a cabinet minister. Kar delivered — winning by a historic margin of over 20,000 votes, the highest in the 2024 Assembly elections, and becoming the first NC candidate to secure victory in Sopore in four decades.
His name has figured prominently in discussions over possible inductions since. Sources said the Sopore MLA is explicitly among the names being discussed for ministerial berths. But they stressed that the list remains under discussion and no final decision has been taken.
Under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, the Council of Ministers cannot exceed one-tenth of the 90-member Assembly’s strength — capping it at nine. The present Council has six members — Omar, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary and ministers Sakeena Masood (Itoo), Javed Ahmed Rana, Javid Ahmad Dar and Satish Sharma — leaving three vacancies.
Within the NC, those three slots are seen as too few for the number of legislators who believe they have a claim. The party has several senior legislators with long Assembly experience, including former minister and NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar, a five-time MLA.
Analysts said the delay reflects the difficulty of choosing. “Once the number of aspirants becomes much larger than the number of available berths, a cabinet expansion becomes a political exercise rather than an administrative one. The Chief Minister has to calculate the reaction of those who are left out as much as the benefits of those who are inducted,” one analyst said.
The Congress factor
A key obstacle has been the Congress’s refusal to join the Council of Ministers until statehood is restored. The vacant berths were initially left open for the Congress, but the party has maintained its position of outside support. A section of Congress leaders has demanded at least two ministerial berths instead of the single seat earlier offered.
For CM Omar, the question is not simply who among the claimants is competent. It is who can be accommodated without alienating those left out — a calculation in which Kar’s record mandate weighs heavily but does not by itself settle the matter. The Chief Minister has the political capital to honour his word. The question is whether the numbers — and the party — will let him.
