Omar Abdullah led council of ministers in Jammu Kashmir will have many new faces after the ensuing Lok Sabha elections when the Chief Minister expands his coalition cabinet.

“What to speak of planning, I will have to expand the cabinet after the Lok Sabha elections,” said Omar when asked whether he intends to expand his council of ministers.

Omar Abdullah, at present, has nine members in his cabinet including Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand. However, going by the norm that council of ministers shall not exceed 20 per cent of the total strength of both the Houses of State Legislature, he can have 24 member council of ministers.

Though pressure had already been there from within both the ruling Congress and National Conference for expanding the coalition ministry, the exercise was kept on hold firstly on account of Rajya Sabha polls and then filling up of vacancies to the State Legislative Council. However, the Lok Sabha election has further deferred the much awaited cabinet expansion.

Political observers feel that the need to expand cabinet has been felt more now in view of the budget session to be held in Valley after the Lok Sabha polls. During the recent session of both the Houses of State Legislature, the state government had only sought vote on account to incur expenses during the current financial year and had also refrained from announcing any sops.

Talking about the economic situation of the state, Omar also talked of holding a “full fledged budget session” to have thread bare discussion on economic situation of the state. As he himself is already burdened with too many portfolios, he needs to allocate some of them to his cabinet colleagues for smooth functioning of the administration.

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