Srinagar, Oct 28: The aftershocks of the National Conference’s Cabinet expansion continued to reverberate on Wednesday, with Health Minister Sakeena Itoo defending the party’s unity, supporters of veteran MLA Mubarak Gul staging a protest in Srinagar’s Press Colony, and Gurez legislator Nazir Ahmad Gurezi’s reported disappointment adding to the unease within the ruling party.
A day after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah inducted four legislators into his Council of Ministers, the celebrations of the new entrants were accompanied by visible disappointment among several senior leaders who had hoped to find a place in the government.
The reactions have brought the party’s internal dynamics into focus, raising questions about how the leadership will balance seniority, loyalty, regional representation and the expectations of legislators who have remained outside the Cabinet.
Itoo sought to play down suggestions of a serious rift, describing the National Conference as a family and maintaining that differences of opinion were natural in a political organisation. She argued that not every legislator could be accommodated in the ministry and that grievances could be expressed within the party’s democratic framework.
Her remarks came as supporters of Gul took their disappointment to Press Colony, demanding that the veteran Eidgah MLA be accommodated in the Cabinet. Protesters reportedly wore white shrouds, held placards and raised slogans in his support, with some demanding that he resign from the party rather than accept his exclusion.
Gul, a six-time MLA and former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, had expressed disappointment over being overlooked. His subsequent appointment as National Conference general secretary by party president Farooq Abdullah has not prevented supporters from publicly questioning the decision to leave him out of the ministry.
The discontent has also extended to Gurezi, whose absence from Tuesday’s oath-taking ceremony attracted attention amid speculation over the names considered for ministerial positions. The newly inducted minister, Mir Saifullah, who went to Gurezi’s residence to meet him, said: “Gurezi is my close friend, and he is a basic soldier of NC; there is no question of him being angry with the party.”
Meanwhile, Abdul Majeed Larmi, the MLA from Anantnag West, made an emotional appeal to his supporters while addressing party workers, saying he had not cried for himself but for the people who had stood by him.
“Why shouldn’t I cry for those who visited me and remained like a rock with me since 2014?” Larmi said, referring to the loyalty and support of his workers over the years.
Urging his supporters not to react in a manner that could go against the principles of the National Conference, Larmi asked them to remain committed to the party despite their disappointment. While acknowledging that he was hurt by being overlooked for a ministerial berth, he made it clear that he would continue with the party.
His remarks reflected the emotional undercurrent surrounding the Cabinet expansion, with the disappointment of individual legislators increasingly intertwined with the expectations of their supporters.
The leadership has sought to contain the fallout by emphasising party unity and the limitations on Cabinet strength. Omar Abdullah’s adviser Nasir Aslam Wani acknowledged that every MLA aspired to become a minister but said the Union Territory’s constitutional framework imposed constraints.
The expansion saw Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mir Saifullah, Shamima Firdous and Altaf Ahmad Kaloo inducted into the ministry. With the four appointments, the government filled the vacancies that had remained open for nearly two years and brought the Council of Ministers to its maximum permissible strength of nine, including the Chief Minister.
The episode has left the National Conference leadership facing the delicate task of managing expectations without allowing disappointment to harden into a wider organisational dispute. While the party has maintained that the reshuffle was an exercise in governance, protests and emotional appeals from within its ranks have ensured that the political consequences of the Cabinet expansion continue to unfold.
