As officials at the Jammu and Kashmir Raj Bhavan and the civil secretariat skipped their weekly holiday yesterday to address protocol and legal issues related to today’s swearing-in of an elected government, intense speculation did the rounds on who will get a berth or will be axed in the new council of ministers.
Governor N N Vohra formally invited Mehbooba Mufti, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) chief, on Saturday evening to be sworn in as the new chief minister of the state today.
Initial reports about the composition of the council of ministers said the PDP and its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party would field the same faces for the 25-member council of ministers which was headed by the then chief minister Mufti Mohamed Sayeed.
Political circles were abuzz with speculations yesterday that Mehbooba, who arrived in Jammu, has decided to drop some of the senior leaders who held important portfolios during her father’s 10-month chief ministerial tenure. Sayeed died on January 7 following multi-organ failure.
“At least four senior PDP leaders are on the ‘hit list’ of Mehboobaji... They held important assignments in the council of ministers of her father,” a top PDP source said.
“None among the previous lot of PDP ministers has so far received a formal word from her to be in readiness for tomorrow’s oath taking ceremony as a minister,” the source added.
“But she is holding a meeting here and things will become clear after that,” the source said.
Similarly, three senior BJP ministers who held important portfolios in the last council of ministers are also likely to be dropped and new faces brought in to replace them.
“Out of these three likely to be axed, at least two are definitely being dropped,” revealed a BJP source.
The new council of ministers headed by Mehbooba will be sworn in at 11.30am today.