Jammu, Publish Date: Dec 28 2017
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday rejigged her cabinet by inducting her brother Tassaduq Hussain Mufti and MLA Chadoora Javaid Mustafa Mir in her team.
Governor N.N. Vohra administered Oath of Office and Secrecy to Legislators Javaid and Tassaduq at a ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan lawns in Jammu today morning. Both the legislators have been inducted into the Cabinet as Ministers for State, said an official spokesman.
Cinematographer turned politician, Tassaduq Mufti is younger brother of Mehbooba Mufti. He was last week nominated as MLC by Governor NN Vohra on recommendations of the state government.
Tassaduq joined politics after the demise of his father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in January 2016.
Tassaduq was also PDP’s candidate for Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency, the polls for which were postponed due to volatile situation. He later headed the CM’s grievance cell.
Mir represents Chadoora assembly segment in Budgam district. He was minister for Revenue in Mufti Muhammad Sayeed-led government in 2015, but was dropped by Mehbooba Mufti from her ministerial team when she took oath as chief minister on April 4, 2016.
Mir was also MoS for quite some time in the PDP-Congress rule from 2002-2008.
This was second expansion in the council of ministers since Mehbooba Mufti formed the government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Earlier this year, PDP inducted heavyweight Syed Altaf Bukhari into the cabinet.
Bukhari, an MLA from Amira Kadal constituency in Srinagar district, was a minister in the Mufti Sayeed government but he was not included in the Cabinet when Mehbooba became the Chief Minister in April last year, three months after the demise of her father.
With the joining of Tassaduq and Javaid, the number of ministers in the PDP-BJP coalition government would go to 25—the maximum permissible limit in the council of ministers.
PDP has exhausted the limit of all 14 ministers, including Chief Minister from its quota. BJP has 11, including Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and associate member Sajjad Lone.
Earlier, Mehbooba’s uncle and former minister of state Farooq Andrabi, according to sources, “volunteered to resign” from the council of ministers recently to pave way for expansion in the team of ministers headed by Mehbooba Mufti.
Besides legislators, political leaders and prominent citizens of the state, the Oath ceremony was attended by Usha Vohra, First Lady, Mehbooba Mufti, Chief Minister, Kavinder Gupta, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Haji Anayat Ali, Chairman Legislative Council, Dr. Nirmal Kumar Singh, Deputy Chief Minister; Ministers, Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons of various Boards and Commissions; Chief Secretary; DGP; and senior Civil and Police officers.
