— Photo: PTI

ON ONE PLATFORM: The former J&K Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (second from right), with National Conference president Omar Abdullah (third from left) and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti (extreme left) in Srinagar on Tuesday.

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday inducted 10 new Ministers, five each from the Congress and the People's Democratic Party.

Governor S.K. Sinha administered the oath of office and secrecy to Dilawar Mir (PDP), Gulchain Singh Charak and Jugal Kishore Sharma (both Congress) as Cabinet Ministers at a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan here. The new Ministers of State are: Javed Mustafa Mir, Peer Mohammad Hussain, Manjit Singh, Mohammad Khalil Bandh (all from the PDP), Ramesh Chandra Sharma, Prem Sagar Aziz and Aijaz Ahmad Khan (all from the Congress).

No Congress leader from the Kashmir Valley has found a berth. Women and Kashmiri Pandits have too have not any representation. This is the first Cabinet expansion since Mr. Azad took over in November last. He said three more Ministers would be inducted at an appropriate time.

With the passage of the bill to reduce the number of Ministers to 20 per cent last year, the State can have only 25 Ministers in the 87-member House. Dignitaries, including the former Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Chairman of Legislative Council Abdur Rasheed Dar, Speaker Tara Chand, National Conference president Omar Abdullah and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti were present.

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