Omar Abdullah Takes Oath as First Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir UT | Highlights

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Omar Abdullah on being sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, and said the Centre will work closely with him and his team for J-K's progress. In a post on X, Modi said, "Congratulations to Shri Omar Abdullah Ji on taking oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Wishing him the very best in his efforts to serve the people."

"The Centre will work closely with him and his team for J&K's progress," the prime minister said.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah chose party leader Surender Choudhary from Nowshera in Jammu as his deputy, saying he did so to give a voice to people of the region and make his government inclusive. "Our endeavour will be to take everyone along," the National Conference leader told reporters after being sworn in. Five ministers -- Sakina Masood (Itoo), Javed Dar, Javed Rana, Surinder Choudhary and Satish Sharma -- also took the oath of office. There are three vacancies and "they will gradually be filled", Abdullah said.

He said Choudhary -- a former member of the PDP and the BJP who emerged a giant killer when he defeated BJP's J-K president Ravinder Raina from Nowshera by 7,819 votes -- was chosen as deputy chief minister so people of Jammu do not feel left out from the government.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the first task of his government will be to become the voice of the people and expressed optimism that J&K will not remain a Union territory for a long time and regain full statehood soon. Stressing that his government has a responsibility towards the people, he said, "We have the mandate from the people to get to work to resolve their problems and that is what we aim to do from day one".

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Chief Tariq Hameed Karra today said that Congress Party is not joining the Ministry in Jammu and Kashmir government at the moment. Congress has strongly demanded from the Centre to restore Statehood to J&K, besides the Prime Minister has time and again in public meetings promised the same. But the Statehood has not been restored to J&K. We are unhappy therefore we are not joining the Ministry at the moment, JKPCC Chief added and said Congress Party shall continue to fight for restoration of Statehood: JKPCC

Surinder Choudhary who defeated BJP J&K President Ravinder Raina gets Deputy Chief Minister

Omar Abdullah Takes Oath as first Chief Minister of J&K union territory

Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi arrive in Srinagar to attend swearing-in ceremony of Omar Abdullah

"I have some strange distinctions. I was the last chief minister to serve a full six-year term. Now I'll be the first chief minister of the Union territory of J-K. The last distinction, as in the one of serving six years, I'm quite happy about. Being a CM of a Union Territory is a different matter altogether. It has its own challenges. I hope that the status of a union territory is a temporary one. We look forward to working in cooperation with government of India to resolve the people's problems and the best way to do that would be to start by restoring statehood to J-K," Omar Abdullah said.

Jammu and Kashmir CM-designate Omar Abdullah said, "I came as a grandson just to place flowers on the grave of my grandfather and grandmother. But more importantly, I came to Dargah Sharif Hazratbal just to offer a silent prayer to ask almighty Allah to give me the strength to live up to the expectations of people. Jammu and Kashmir has gone through an extremely difficult time. People have enormous expectations and our challenge is to live up to those expectations."
 

Visuals from Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar where JKNC Vice President Omar Abdullah will take oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir today.
 

Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Jammu and Kashmir CM-designate Omar Abdullah offered floral tributes at the Mazar-e-Anwar of "Sher-e-Kashmir" Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, in Srinagar. Speaking after he offered prayers Omar Abdullah said his government has a lot to do for the people of the region. "We have a lot to do. We have to give people the hope that this is their government and they will be heard. They were not being heard for the last 5-6 years. It will be our responsibility to listen to them and act on it,." he said. 

"I have some strange distinctions. I was the last chief minister to serve a full six-year term. Now I'll be the first chief minister of the Union territory of J&K. The last distinction, as in the one of serving six years, I'm quite happy about...I hope that the status of a union territory is a temporary one. We look forward to working in cooperation with government of India to resolve the people's problems and the best way to do that would be to start by restoring statehood to J&K, " he added.

On the oath-taking ceremony of Jammu and Kashmir CM-designate Omar Abdullah, Congress MP Dr Syed Naseer Hussain says, "Elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir after a long time and it was clear that INDIA alliance will be forming the government there...The plight of Jammu and Kashmir in the last 10 years has been so bad. Now we want a clean government for the people. There should be development for them...We want the people of Jammu and Kashmir to be active there and there should be talks about their development."

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, NCP-SCP MP Supriya Sule and CPI leader D Raja in Srinagar to attend the swearing-in ceremony of J&K CM-designate Omar Abdullah
 

Omar Abdullah was unanimously elected the leader of the NC Legislature Party, setting the stage for his second term as chief minister. His first term, from 2009 to 2014 when Jammu and Kashmir was a full-fledged state, was also under an NC-Congress coalition government.

Invitations to attend the oath ceremony have been sent to the constituents of the INDIA bloc. National Conference (NC) Kashmir provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani said it was not clear yet who all will be attending the ceremony.

Security has been tightened around the venue of the swearing-in ceremony, said officials. "The security has been beefed up especially as a lot of VVIPs will be attending the event. We will ensure the smooth conduct of the event," the officials added.

This will be the first elected government in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganisation of the former state into two Union Territories. The 90 seats in the region were contested in a three-phase election, with the results announced on October 8. NC-Congress alliance secured 48 seats, with the NC leading the alliance to victory, as the Congress won only six seats.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah is set to take oath as the new chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on October 16. Abdullah and his ministers will be administered the oath of office and secrecy by J-K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at 11:30 am. Sharing the letter on X, sent by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Omar Abdullah said, "Was pleased to receive the Principal Secretary to LG Manoj Sinha ji. He handed over a letter from the @OfficeOfLGJandK inviting me to form the next government in J-K."