Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Jammu and Kashmir CM-designate Omar Abdullah on Wednesday offered floral tributes at the Mazar-e-Anwar of “Sher-e-Kashmir” Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, in Srinagar.
Omar Abdullah’s grandfather, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, was the first Prime Minister of JK after its accession to India and later served as Chief Minister. Omar’s father Farooq Abdullah has been the CM of the erstwhile state thrice.
Speaking after he offered prayers Omar Abdullah said his government has a lot to do for the people of the region.
“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, I’m quite happy about…I hope that the status of a union territory is a temporary one. We look forward to working in cooperation with government of India to resolve the people’s problems and the best way to do that would be to start by restoring statehood to J&K, ” he added.
The oath-taking ceremony will be held at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), Srinagar and the oath of office to Abdullah along with his council of ministers will be administered by J-K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
This will be the first elected government in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganization of the former state into two Union Territories.
Omar, a former Member of Parliament was the Chief Minister of the erstwhile state between 2009-2015. He had also served as Union Minister of State for External Affairs in former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government from 2001 to 2002.
