J&K Cabinet expansion: LG Manoj Sinha allocates portfolios as Jammu protests and MP Aga Ruhollah prepares resignation

Portfolio Allotment Done following the cabinet expansion., But Storm continues in NC: Jammu feels betrayed, Kashmir leaders protest and Star MP Aga’s announced Resignation on November 3.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on 28 October 2026 formally allocated portfolios to the eight ministers in Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s newly expanded Council of Ministers through Government Order No. 1690-JK(GAD) of 2026, issued from Lok Bhawan, Srinagar under Rule 4(2) of the Transaction of Business Rules, 2019.

The expansion a day earlier had brought the cabinet to its statutory ceiling of nine members, including the Chief Minister. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, the size of the Council is capped at 10 per cent of the 90-member Assembly.

Four National Conference MLAs from the Kashmir Valley were sworn in by the Lieutenant Governor at Lok Bhawan on 27 October. They are:

• Ali Mohammad Sagar (MLA Khanyar, Srinagar), a seven-time legislator and former NC general secretary
• Mir Saifullah (MLA Trehgam, Kupwara), a four-time legislator
• Shamim Firdous (MLA Habba Kadal, Srinagar), a three-time legislator who becomes the second woman minister in the cabinet
• Altaf Ahmad Wani “Kaloo” (MLA Pahalgam, Anantnag)

Independent MLA Satish Sharma from the Jammu region, who earlier held Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Youth Services & Sports and other portfolios, was dropped. The move left mainland Jammu without a minister from that belt. The only two remaining Jammu-side representatives are Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary and Javed Ahmed Rana, both from the Pir Panjal area.

Kashmir Valley representation has risen to seven of the nine ministers, including the Chief Minister.

Full Portfolio Allocation

1. Omar Abdullah (Chief Minister) – Tourism, General Administration, Housing & Urban Development, Information, Hospitality, Science & Technology, Information Technology
2. Surinder Kumar Choudhary (Deputy Chief Minister) – Public Works (Roads & Buildings), Industries & Commerce, Labour & Employment, Skill Development
3. Ali Mohammad Sagar – Revenue, Power Development, Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs, Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction (DMRRR), Election
4. Sakina Masood Itoo – Health & Medical Education, Social Welfare.
5. Javed Ahmed Rana – Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Tribal Affairs, Transport.
6. Javid Ahmed Dar – Agriculture Production, Finance, Mining, Cooperatives.
7. Mir Saifullah – Planning, Development & Monitoring, Culture, Youth Services & Sports, ARI & Trainings.
8. Shamim Firdous – School Education, Higher Education, Jal Shakti.
9. Altaf Ahmad Wani (Kaloo) Forest, Ecology & Environment, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj.

Farooq Abdullah described the changes positively. Congress stayed out of the government, linking any participation to the restoration of statehood.

The expansion and subsequent portfolio allotment have exposed deep fault lines inside the National Conference. Jammu NC leaders have openly called the absence of a mainland Jammu minister an injustice to the province. In Kashmir too, resentment is boiling over. Veteran seven-time legislator Mubarak Gull and several other senior leaders have expressed strong disappointment at being left out.

For the past two days, Gull’s supporters have been protesting at the party headquarters demanding justice. MLA Anantnag West Abdul Majid Larmi has publicly questioned the induction of Altaf Kaloo, stating that Kaloo is far junior to him in the party hierarchy.

A bigger storm is scheduled for 3 November. Aga Syed Ruhollah Mehdi, the party’s Srinagar MP and one of its most prominent faces in the previous elections, has announced he will resign both from the basic membership of the National Conference and from his parliamentary seat on that date. The date coincides with the martyrdom anniversary of his father, the late veteran Shia cleric Aga Syed Mehdi.

Aga has been relentlessly criticising Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for failing to deliver on the promises that, he says, formed the foundation of the party’s massive mandate in Kashmir.

Whether the party high command can still contain the anger among MLAs and workers, or whether Aga Ruhollah’s resignation becomes a rallying point for other disgruntled leaders, will decide the immediate political weather for both the National Conference and the Omar Abdullah government.

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