J&K: Expect cabinet expansion soon, says minister
Good news is expected soon on the expansion of the cabinet, cabinet minister Satish Sharma said on Sunday. While talking to reporters on the sidelines of a sporting event, Sharma said that there were multiple discussions taken up by the government on cabinet expansion.
'Cabinet expansion is the prerogative of (chief minister) Omar Abdullah and there has been discussion on this many times. In the coming days, we will get some good news,' Sharma said. After forming the government in October 2024, chief minister Omar Abdullah had taken oath along with just five members of his cabinet. The five members included deputy chief minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary and ministers Sakeena Itoo, Javed Ahmad Rana, Javid Ahmad Dar and Satish Sharma (who won as an independent candidate).
Eight months have passed since taking oath and there has been no forward movement on cabinet expansion so far. The Opposition has raised voices against the delay in cabinet expansion while they cite the overwhelming mandate given by people to the government.
Peoples Democratic Party's Pulwama MLA Waheed Para said, 'J&K CM Omar Abdullah says he's running a hybrid government, but the people of J&K gave a historic, one-sided mandate to end the political vacuum and dismantle bureaucratic rule. So why no cabinet expansion yet? Why is power still concentrated in the hands of just a few? This isn't democracy. The delay shows a clear unwillingness to share power and deliver on governance.'
On Saturday, Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Doda MLA Mehraj Malik withdrew his support to the NC-led government, criticising Omar Abdullah's government for 'no development work'.
'Kejriwal resigned after 49 days when he couldn't serve the people the way he wanted. Omar has been in power for over nine months but hasn't delivered,' he said.
Sharma said they would talk to Mehraj as he 'supports secular forces'.
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Yet, rather than rallying behind the gesture or even nodding at its meaning, the National Conference chose to respond with jittery suspicion and cheap party jabs. NC spokesman Tanvir Sadiq fired off a tweet wondering whether the lieutenant governors off-the-cuff promise in south Kashmir was now being undermined by his own office. In both timing and tone, the tweet looked less like a search for clarity and more like a slick, if desperate, bid to grab back a political story that had already slipped through the partys fingers. What the NC fails to realise is that such acts of pettiness are no longer viewed in isolation. They are read as part of a deeper crisis of relevance — a party that once symbolised regional aspiration is now seen as clinging to performative opposition, unable to digest that delivery and governance are now taking precedence over slogans and symbolism. Instead of standing with Adil's grieving family, the NC chose to question the integrity of an administrative act that they themselves failed to undertake when it was their responsibility to lead. After the Pahalgam attack, the NC had issued elaborate statements, condemning the act of terror and pledging support to the victims. But those words vanished into the ether. There was no institutional outreach to the bereaved families, no efforts at rehabilitation, and no show of empathy beyond the camera flash. In the absence of state action from elected representatives, it was the Lieutenant Governor's office — often portrayed by NC as a distant authority — that responded with immediacy, compassion, and discretion. That is the real reason the NC feels so uneasy. For decades, the party shaped almost all local stories about who suffered and what identity meant. Now that those stories are facing practical policies and a calmer, post-partisan kindness, the solid ground they assumed was theirs is cracking. Rather than ask why they've been out-manoeuvred politically and out-brightened morally, they fall back on the easiest move-questions, tweets, and quiet sabotage. It is also not lost on the people of Jammu and Kashmir that the NC, since forming the government after the 2024 elections, has presided over a visible administrative breakdown. From power shortages to water scarcity, from dysfunctional municipal services to recurring protests in Jammu, the people are not seeing the delivery they were promised. These are not abstract policy gaps; these are lived, daily failures. While the NC leadership tweets in outrage, Jammu and Kashmir continues to reel under electricity cuts, Water shortage and unfulfilled promises. The contrast becomes painfully evident when juxtaposed with LG's handling of the Adil Hussain case. 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