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Baig to be sworn in Deputy Chief Minister today

SRINAGAR: Senior People’s Democratic Party leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig has again been appointed Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, the position fell vacant after he was recalled by his party in August 2006.

He will be sworn in by Governor S.K. Sinha at the Raj Bhavan in Jammu on Monday.

Official sources told The Hindu that his name was cleared as Deputy Chief Minister after an hour long meeting between PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad at the former’s Jammu residence on Saturday.

The decision to appoint Mr. Baig Deputy Chief Minister comes in the wake of the rapprochement between the Congress and the PDP which have been on warpath since Mr. Azad took over as Chief Minister in November 2005.

PDP sources said that Mr. Baig would be given Planning, Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism portfolios. However, the Finance portfolio he was holding along with these while he was in the council will continue to be with Tariq Hameed Qarra, the Mufti’s strong loyalist.

Mr. Qarra will also be given the Housing and Urban Development portfolio .

Mr. Baig’s re-induction is likely to annoy a strong lobby in the PDP, which is loyal to the father-daughter duo, as also the dissidents led by former Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir.

“Mr. Baig’s induction is a compulsion. Party rank and file is not happy with his approach and behaviour”, a senior PDP leader said.

Mr. Baig had held the post earlier but was recalled following differences with Mr. Sayeed and party president Mehbooba Mufti.

Mr. Baig was understood to have hobnobbed with Mr. Azad against his party and also ignored party workers in allotting funds from the finance and planning portfolios.

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