By News Agency of Kashmir
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Friday called on the governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha triggering a new round of speculations in the political circles about the much awaited cabinet expansion.
If the informed sources in the power corridors have to be believed the chief minister has finally made up his mind to go ahead with the proposed expansion soon after the return of AICC president Sonia Gandhi from New York, where she will represent the Indian delegation at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on October 2.
Azad called on the governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha at Raj Bhawan, here today, and held an hour long discussion on various issues including the communal tension in some parts of Jammu region and cabinet expansion, highly placed sources in Raj Bhawan told News Agency of Kashmir.
Though officials claimed that it was a courtesy call by Azad to the governor, sources said that cabinet expansion was one of the main agenda discussed in the meeting.
It was reliably learnt that the Congress has finalized two names of Speaker Legislative Assembly Tara Chand and MLA Raman Bhalla to be inducted into the cabinet, while it is likely to drop PCC president Peerzada Muhammad Sayeed from the council of ministers.
Though only three vacancies exists in the council of ministers, sources said that four MLAs are likely to be inducted by dropping two ministers one each from PDP and Congress.
Though PDP was yet to finalise the name of its minister to be dropped from the cabinet, sources said that owing to the hardened stand of party president Mahbooba Mufti over Qazi Muhammad Afzal’s resignation the later may be asked to remain out of the cabinet.
The names of PDP veterans Ghulam Hassan Khan and Nizam-ud-Din Bhat were making rounds in the party circles to be inducted in the proposed cabinet.
However owing to the past experiences about the cabinet expansion in the state, the political observers are keeping their fingers crossed over the next move of chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is known for keeping all the cards close to his chest till the final movement