Omar Abdullah sworn in as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister on Wednesday the first elected government in the union territory since 2019 when Article 370 was abrogatedLt Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office and secrecy to Abdullah who takes over as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister for a second term and is the third generation of the Abdullah family to occupy the office after his grandfather Sheikh Abdullah and father Farooq AbdullahFive ministers were also sworn inINDIA Bloc leaders attended the event in full strength Among those who had gathered at the SheriKashmir International Convention Centre SKICC were Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Mallikarjun Kharge SP chief Akhilesh Yadav Left leaders Prakash Karat and D Raja DMKs Kanimozhi and NCPs Supriya Sule PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also attended the eventAbdullah has been unanimously elected leader of the NC Legislature Party His first term as chief minister was from 2009 to 2014 when Jammu and Kashmir was a fullfledged stateThe National Conference won 42 out of the 90 seats in the recent elections while alliance partner Congress bagged six Together the two prepoll allies hold a majority in the 95member assembly five members are to be nominated by the LGIn 2019 the erstwhile state was bifurcated into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and LadakhOmar Abdullah on Wednesday offered floral tributes at the MazareAnwar of ShereKashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in Srinagar ahead of his swearingin ceremonyOmar Abdullahs grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was the first Prime Minister of JK after its accession to India and later served as Chief Minister Omars father Farooq Abdullah has been the CM of the erstwhile state thriceSpeaking after he offered prayers Omar Abdullah said his government has a lot to do for the people of the region We have a lot to do We have to give people the hope that this is their government and they will be heard They have not been heard for the last 56 years It will be our responsibility to listen to them and act on it he said reported ANII have some strange distinctions I was the last chief minister to serve a full sixyear term Now Ill be the first chief minister of the Union territory of JampK The last distinction as in the one of serving six years Im quite happy about I hope that the status of a union territory is a temporary one We look forward to working in cooperation with the government of India to resolve the peoples problems and the best way to do that would be to start by restoring statehood to JampK he added reported ANIThis will be the first elected government in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganization of the former state into two Union TerritoriesOmar a former Member of Parliament was the Chief Minister of the erstwhile state between 20092015 He had also served as Union Minister of State for External Affairs in former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees NDA government from 2001 to 2002Jammu and Kashmir have been under Presidential rule since 2018 after the Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew its support from the coalition government with Mehbooba Muftiled Peoples Democratic Party PDPWith inputs from PTI and ANI