All BJP ministers resign to facilitate major reshuffle in Mufti government?
Srinagar: All the nine remaining BJP ministers in the PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir are reported to have resigned to facilitate a major reshuffle in the Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti.
The reshuffle has been necessitated by the resignation of two BJP ministers Choudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga amid controversy over their rallying behind the accused in the Kathua gang-rape and murder.
The sources in the BJP said that the six Cabinet ministers and three ministers of state belonging to the party submitted their resignations to the State BJP unit president Sat Paul Sharma to facilitate preparing of a new list of probable ministers ahead of the reshuffle. But Jammu, the winter capital of the State and strong bastion of the BJP, was agog with rumours on Monday evening that the party ministers have resigned to show solidarity with Singh and Ganga.
The Cabinet rank ministers from the BJP include Nirmal Singh (Deputy Chief Minister), Bali Bhagat, Chering Dorjey, Sham Lal Choudhary and Abdul Gani Kohli besides Sajad Gani Lone who was inducted into the Council of Ministers from the BJP quota. The ministers of state from the BJP are Sunil Kumar Sharma, Priya Sethi and Ajay Nanda.
The PDP has presently eleven Cabinet rank minister including Chief Minister and two ministers of state in the Council of Ministers.
Earlier during the day, an official announcement has said that the Chief Minister Mufti has assigned the charge of the departments of Industries & Commerce and Forest, Ecology and Environment to Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Kumar Singh.
“In pursuance of Rule 5 of the Jammu and Kashmir Government Business Rules, I, Mehbooba Mufti, Chief Minister, Jammu and Kashmir do hereby assign the charge of the Departments of Industries & Commerce and Forest, Ecology & Environment to Dr Nirmal Kumar Singh, Deputy Chief Minister in addition to the subjects already assigned to him,” an order issued in Jammu read.
The Deputy Chief Minister who is a senior BJP leader is presently holding the charge of the Power Development and Housing and Urban Development departments.
The charge of the departments of Industries and Commerce and Forest, Ecology and Environment was earlier with Ganga and Lal Singh, respectively.
