Historic Moment: Omar Abdullah Becomes First Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir UT

On wednesday 16th October, Omar Abdullah took oath as first Unoin Territory’s Cheif Minister after the abrogation of article 370 in the national conference which held in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. Following Omar Abdullah, Surinder Choudhary also took oath as a deputy Chief Minister. The ministers Sakina Itoo, Javeed Rana, Surinder Choudhary, Javeed Dar and Satish Sharma also took oath.

 Lok Sabha opposition and congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attended Abdullah’s oath-taking ceremony at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar. Rahul Gandhi also have shared post on Instagram quoting, “Today, joined the oath taking ceremony of newly appointed Chief Minister Umar Abdullah ji along with senior leaders of INDIA Janbandhan in Jammu and Kashmir. In Jammu and Kashmir, India’s government will form the government of justice, hopes, blessings. This is the government of the people of Jammu and Kashmir that will fight for the rights and rights of every state from  assembly to Delhi.”

The oath taking ceremony to the newly appointed chief minister and his ministers was administered by Jammu and Kashmir’s  Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. An hour before his oath-taking ceremony, Omar paid floral tributes to the National Conference founder and his grand father, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in the mausoleum. After his grand father and father Farooq Abdullah, the newly appointed Chief Minister will be the 3rd generation of his family to take over the office.

He is the first appointed chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. And also the first Chief Minister  after the former state was divided into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Not to forget that Omar Abdullah was a chief minister  from 2009 to 2014 when Jammu and Kashmir was a full-fledged state. He stated in the occasion,“I have some strange distinctions. I was the last chief minister to serve a full six-year term. Now I’ll be the first chief minister of the Union territory of J&K. The last distinction, as in the one of serving six years.”

The  elections held after the abrogation of Article 370, National Conference-Congress alliance won the maiden assembly with 42 seats while the Congress won 6 seats. The Independent MLAs and one MLA from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) back up the party by giving 5 more majority seats. The opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party has won 29 seats, which is comparatively high it’s 2014 assembly elections with 24 seats in Jammu and Kashmir.