Srinagar, Oct 27: In the first cabinet expansion by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, four National Conference (NC) legislators, all from Valley, were sworn in as ministers on Tuesday while the serving minister Satish Sharma was dropped.
Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly inducted Ministers at a swearing-in ceremony held at Lok Bhavan on Tuesday. The Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, was also present on the occasion.
The newly inducted ministers include veteran politician Ali Mohammad Sagar, MLA from Khanyar in Srinagar; Mir Saifullah, MLA from Trehgam; Altaf Ahmad Kaloo, MLA from Pahalgam; and Shamima Firdous, MLA from Habbakadal in Srinagar. Sagar and Saifullah had previously served as ministers in Omar Abdullah's government from 2008 to 2014.
Omar dropped independent legislator Satish Sharma from his council of ministers, leaving mainland Jammu without representation in the Cabinet.
Sharma held the portfolios of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs; Transport; Science and Technology; Information Technology; Youth Services and Sports; and ARI and Trainings.
With these four inductions and the dropping of Satish Sharma, the Council of Ministers now has nine members, including the Chief Minister, which is the maximum permissible limit.
The expansion comes over two years after the formation of the Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Under the constitutional framework, the Council of Ministers in Jammu and Kashmir, which has a 90-member Legislative Assembly, can have a maximum of nine members, including the Chief Minister.
"The cabinet reshuffle is a very good move. These individuals will get to work and strive to alleviate the difficulties faced by the people," NC president Farooq Abdullah said.
The cabinet expansion, however, sparked anger among a section of the NC leaders.
Senior leader Mubarak Gul publicly expressed disappointment over being left out of the Cabinet expansion.
"I have attended 30 oath-taking ceremonies till now. Every time I was dropped, and today as well, I am being dropped," Gul told reporters outside Lok Bhawan in Srinagar.
Gul's supporters also staged a protest at the party headquarters.
Another party legislator Abdul Majeed Larmi also expressed disappointment over being left out.

New Ministers: Ali Mohammad Sagar, 71

 
A seven-time legislator, his career has run from student activism and a teenage arrest to the cabinet, detention and a fresh electoral win in 2024.
Born on November 27, 1953, Sagar holds a postgraduate degree in law, along with an MA in Economics and an LLB (Hons). He entered public life early. He founded the Awami Study Circle to campaign against social evils and campaigned in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections for a nominee of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. At 16 he was arrested and spent more than a month behind bars. He later became general secretary of the Youth National Conference after the merger.
His first electoral success came as a municipal councillor from Nawab Bazar in 1978. He was re-elected in 1982 and made chairman (Health) of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation, where he started welfare schemes for sanitation workers. He has been on the NC's Central Working Committee since 1983, and he joined Farooq Abdullah's padyatra from Poonch to Srinagar to highlight the backwardness of remote areas.
Sagar entered the Assembly in 1983. He was detained for over six months in 1984 under the G.M. Shah government and released after the Supreme Court intervened. Re-elected in 1987, he became Minister of State for Information, Hospitality and Protocol. In 1996 he returned as Minister of State for Home and was later elevated to cabinet rank with Public Works, serving until October 2002. In 2001 he led India's Haj delegation. After winning in 2002 and 2008, he held Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and, later, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
He became the NC general secretary on June 9, 2014, and was re-elected to the Assembly that year. After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 he was detained under the PSA for 11 months and 15 days, and released after the High Court of J&K and Ladakh intervened. In 2024 he won Khanyar again.

Mir Saifullah, 64

A High Court lawyer, Saifullah is a four-time legislator representing Trehgam in Kupwara. He is also the party's Central Secretary.
Born on January 1, 1962, Saifullah is a law graduate who practised as an advocate in the J&K High Court between 1988 and 1996. His political journey began early. Within the National Conference, he served as Block Secretary of Kralpora from 1987 to 1993 and Block President from 1993 to 1996. He later became District President, Kupwara, a post he held from 2002 to 2010, and is a member of the party's Central Working Committee.
Saifullah first entered the Legislative Assembly in 1996 and was re-elected in 2002 and 2008. He chaired the Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Ethics and Privileges, and was named Best Legislator for 2004. He was a member of the District Development Board, Kupwara, from 1996 to 2008, and chaired Auqaf Kupwara in 1998.
In 2010 he was inducted into the Council of Ministers as Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs. In the 2024 Assembly elections he contested on a National Conference ticket and won from newly carved Trehgam.

Shamim Firdous, 63

A lawyer, Firdous has been the women's face of National Conference's. She is a three-time legislator from Srinagar's Habba Kadal constituency and currently heads the Assembly's Committee on Estimates.
Born on February 25, 1963, Firdous is a law graduate. Long before entering electoral politics, she was active in social work.
She entered politics in 1983 and also served as a member of the erstwhile J&K Legislative Council. She then contested the Habba Kadal seat in the Legislative Assembly elections of 2008 and 2014, winning both times.
Within the party, she is president of the National Conference's Women's Wing. She has also chaired the State Women's Development Corporation.
In the 2024 Assembly elections, the first for the union Territory, she contested again from Habba Kadal and was declared the winner, completing her third consecutive victory from the constituency.

Altaf Ahmad Wani, 54

The two-time MLA, Altaf Ahmad Wani, 54, has come a long way, from losing his first election to winning in 2024.
Born on May 6, 1972, Wani holds a mechanical engineering degree from Bangalore. He built his career in business first. He opened Oxford Presentation High School in Anantnag, became Bharti Airtel's channel partner for south Kashmir and launched Delhi Public School Anantnag.
He joined politics in 2007 and lost his first Assembly contest from Pahalgam in 2008. The setback was brief. In 2009 he entered the Legislative Council, where he sat on the Privilege and Forest committees. In 2014 he won Pahalgam, and in 2024 he won it again in the first Assembly election for the union Territory.
His supporters recall his work during the devastating Kashmir floods, when he reportedly used JCBs and manpower to rescue families. He is also known for backing sports and for championing the poor, orphans and backward classes.