Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday took oath as the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Governor NN Vohra administered the oath of office to Mehbooba along with her council of ministers. Meanwhile, former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh also took oath. Union parliamentary affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, among many others, were present during the swearing-in ceremony. The Congress boycotted the ceremony.
The governor had on Sunday invited Mehbooba to form and lead the PDP-BJP coalition government in the state. Jammu and Kashmir was put under Governor’s Rule on January 8, a day after then chief minister, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, passed away in New Delhi. The PDP and the BJP had staked a claim for government formation on March 26, two days after Mehbooba was elected as the PDP’s legislature party leader. Mehbooba, had earlier met Vohra and staked her claim to form the government with the support of 25 MLAs of the BJP. The PDP has 27 MLAs in the 87-member state assembly. Political observers expect Mehbooba to chart out a new course of governance different from her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s legacy — more in style than in substance.
