Mehbooba dropped PDP treasurer and former works minister Syed Altaf Bukhari, former revenue minister Javid Mustafa Mir and former ministers of state Mohammad Ashraf Mir and Abdul Majid Paddar.
On the day she created history by becoming the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti went into an overdrive and cracked whip against the dissidents by dropping four senior PDP leaders and former ministers of the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's cabinet.
Mehbooba dropped PDP treasurer and former works minister Syed Altaf Bukhari, former revenue minister Javid Mustafa Mir and former ministers of state Mohammad Ashraf Mir and Abdul Majid Paddar. Mir was termed as giant killer after he defeated former chief minister Omar Abdullah from Sonawar constituency in 2014.
Instead, she brought in two new faces as ministers of state. MLA Pampore Zahoor Ahmad Mir, whose father was assassinated by the militants during Mufti Sayeed's first tenure as chief minister from 2002-2005, was inducted as minister of state. Mehbooba's close relative and MLA Dooru Farooq Andrabi was also inducted to fill the vacancy in the council of ministers.
Sources said Mehbooba wanted to convey to rank and file of the party that no dissidence or indiscipline will be tolerated. Sources said some of the MLAs in her party had raised a banner of revolt over her blow-hot-blow-cold attitude about government formation during the last three months.
Even as Mehbooba tried to stem the rot, the MP from Srinagar Tariq Karra boycotted the swearing in ceremony apparently to protest the inclusion of some of the ministers in her cabinet. Sources said Karra, who had mend fences with Mehbooba after Mufti's, death wanted two more senior ministers to be dropped.
Earlier history was created when Mehbooba Mufti was sworn in as the first woman chief minister of restive state. The 56-year-old sitting Lok Sabha member from Anantnag constituency took the oath of the office and secrecy along with the 22 cabinet and ministers of state after a three months hiatus following the death of her father and former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7.
Of the total ministers 12 are from PDP and 11 from BJP. BJP too dropped two former ministers and brought in two new faces. An independent MLA from Udhampur who was minister in Mufti government too was dropped.
Soon after taking oath Mehbooba drove to civil secretariat and formally assumed office. Chairing her first meeting of council of ministers, Mehbooba spelt out her mantra of `perform or perish'. "The people are very vigilant today and keep it in mind that if you fail to perform they will teach you a lesson in next elections," she said
Mehbooba said the PDP-BJP coalition government would work with fresh resolve to accomplish Mufti Sahab's unfinished agenda of peace, harmony and development for Jammu and Kashmir. "Development, good governance and corruption-free administration will remain the key focus of her government and there will be no compromise on it", she said.
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