J&K CM Omar Abdullah reveals why he chose Jammu’s Surinder Choudhary as his deputy

Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. He also picked party leader Surinder Choudhary from Nowshera in Jammu as his deputy, stating that he took this decision to give a voice to the people of the region and make his government inclusive.

Five ministers including Surinder Choudhary, Sakina Masood (Itoo), Javed Rana, Javed Dar and Satish Sharma were also sworn in. After being sworn in, the National Conference leader told reporters: “Our effort will be to bring everyone.” He also said there are three vacancies in the cabinet which will be “gradually filled”, news agency PTI reported.

Choudhary is a former member of PDP and BJP. He emerged as a giant killer when he defeated BJP’s JK president Ravinder Raina from Nowshera by 7,819 votes. Later, he was chosen as deputy minister by Omar Abdullah so that Jammu does not feel left out of the new government, which has been formed after a decade in the union territory.

“I had said that we will not allow Jammu to feel that it has no voice and no representatives in this government. I have chosen a deputy chief minister of Jammu so that the people of Jammu feel that this government is as much theirs as it is of the rest,” he said .

In the previous assembly elections in 2014, Raina had won the Nowshera seat by defeating Choudhary by a margin of over 10,000 votes. Choudhary contested on a PDP ticket in these polls.

After his defeat, Choudhary quit the PDP in 2022 and joined the BJP. He then ended his over a year long association with the saffron party to join the National Conference in July last year.

With today’s swearing-in ceremony, this is the first time a government has been elected since the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 and the bifurcation of the state into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

In the recently held 2024 assembly elections, Omar Abdullah’s CN won 42 of the 90 seats, while its alliance partner, the Congress, bagged only six seats. However, together, the two pre-poll allies secured a majority in the 95-member assembly. In addition to the 90 seats in the UT, LG Manoj Sinha will nominate five members.