Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the first task of his government will be to become the voice of the people and expressed optimism that Jammu and Kashmir will not remain a Union territory for a long time and regain full statehood soon.

Hours before taking oath of office, the National Conference leader also told PTI Videos that all his well with the alliance partner Congress and that his party is in talks with the grand old party and also with his own team on filling ministerial vacancies.

Stressing that his government has a responsibility towards the people, he said, "We have the mandate from the people to get to work to resolve their problems and that is what we aim to do from day one".

On speculation of a rift between National Conference and its coalition partner Congress, Omar quipped “No, why is not all well. If all is not well, why (Mallikarjun) Kharge (Congress president), Rahul (Gandhi) and other senior leaders of Congress would be coming here. Their presence here is indicative of the fact that the alliance is strong, and we will work for the people (of J&K)." Replying to a question about non-inclusion of any Congress MLA in his cabinet, he said the national party is not out of the cabinet.

“It is for the Congress to decide. We have been in discussions with them. Principally around the fact that as a UT with a unicameral house, we don’t have the upper house. Therefore, the size of the government is severely restricted. Gone are the days when you would see 40 or 45 ministers," he said while recalling that all MLAs in the Mufti Sayeed government had ministerial ranks.

“It is not the case this time. So I will not be filling all nine vacancies in the council of ministers… So not all vacancies would be filled, some vacancies would be kept to be filled going ahead as I said we are in talks with Congress but also from within my own team. Let us see how we go,” Abdullah said.

The Congress on Wednesday said it has decided not to join the council of ministers in the newly formed Jammu and Kashmir government as the party was "unhappy" that statehood was not restored to the Union territory.

Abdullah noted that J-K is without an elected government since 2018 so it has been a long gap without democracy and people have felt “voiceless”.

“I think the first thing obviously this government has to do is to be the voice of the people of J-K. They must feel a part of this government, they must feel that they have a voice and we must also ensure that they are heard. We cannot suppress their voice,” the NC leader said.

He also said that the people’s voice gets magnified through the press and you cannot have a democracy without having a functional press.

“A strong democracy requires a strong institution of press and I am committed to that,” he said.

On the challenges ahead, he said it is a mix and obviously, governing Jammu and Kashmir comes with its own challenges.

“This is also an incredible opportunity for a generational shift in government, for a new team to come and we are UT therefore this is a chance to figure out how it works. This is a new mandate from the people so yes there are a lot of challenges but it also is an incredible opportunity, it will be a crime to allow this opportunity to go to waste,” he said.

On former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressing his willingness to share his experience with him on governing a ‘half-state’ like Delhi, Abdullah said “I have a lot of lessons to learn. I learnt a lot of lessons in six years, made some mistakes and intend not to repeat those mistakes again because it is only a fool who keeps repeating the same mistakes again and again".

"I definitely am not doing that. But nobody is perfect so every day is an opportunity to learn. So yes, one will learn from everybody who has experience governing this country. But again I make the point I sincerely believe that we will not be a UT for a long time. Therefore, this so called half state is very much a temporary phase and we will be a full state soon,” he said.

Abdullah took over as the first chief minister of J-K post abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two Union territories. He had earlier ruled the erstwhile state from 2008 to 2014, Terming the Union territory status of Jammu and Kashmir as unfortunate, he said, “I have always maintained that our status as a UT is temporary one. We have commitments from the Government of India, particularly from the prime minister, home minister and others that statehood will be restored to J-K and we hope that happens at the earliest".

On MP Sheikh Rashid’s statement on statehood, he said, “I don’t need lessons from him. The people know who he is… I am setting aside everything that he did at the behest of whoever he did it for. The public has spoken and he needs to respect the mandate of the people.

“And the people’s mandate could not be clearer both in favour of the government and for his own party. Therefore, before you take a little bit of time to analyse why his party is where it is. Do some corrective action for his own party, then we will sit down and see what he has to say about J-K,” he said.

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