The Omar Abdullah Cabinet sworn in on Wednesday has three faces from the Kashmir province, including the Chief Minister, and an equal number from the Jammu region, in a careful balancing act by the National Conference. The names also cover almost all the disparate regions of the Union Territory.
The Jammu faces include Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary, who defeated BJP J&K working president Ravinder Raina from Nowshera, and Satish Sharma, a Congress rebel and an Independent MLA from Chhamb, who pushed the official party candidate from the seat to the third place – both Nowshera and Chhamb are in Hindu-dominated Jammu mainland.
The third minister from Jammu in the Cabinet is Javed Ahmed Rana, a Gujjar leader from Jammu’s Pir Panjal area.
