JAMMU: JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir got its first woman chief minister today in PDP President Mehbooba Mufti who was sworn-in here along with 22 ministers, with an increased strength for BJP in the Cabinet.
Dressed in black, 56-year-old Mehbooba took the oath of office and secrecy in Urdu followed by BJP's Nirmal Singh, who will again be the Deputy Chief Minister in the new PDP-BJP government formed three months after the state was put under Governor's rule following the demise of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Governor N N Vohra also administered the oath to 21 other Ministers. BJP's share increased this time in the Cabinet from six to eight berths and three Ministers of State (MoS) while PDP has nine Cabinet Ministers instead of 11 last time.
Mehbooba's party has got three MoS berths, same as the last time. In the last government, BJP had a total of 11 ministers -- six in Cabinet, three MoS and two with independent charge. Sajjad Gani Lone, son of late separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone, remained in the Cabinet in the BJP quota.
PDP has dropped Altaf Bukhari and Javed Mustafa from the ministry. Former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar, Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Jitendra Singh were among the host of VIPs present at the function held at Raj Bhavan.
However, PDP MP Tariq Hamid Karra and Congress boycotted the ceremony. BJP promoted Chering Dorje and Abdul Gani Kohli as Cabinet ministers. They were Ministers of State with independent charge in the Sayeed-led government.