Chief minister Omar Abdullah has come under fire after reports said his cabinet had passed a resolution asking the Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, with critics questioning his silence on Article 370 and the secrecy surrounding the development.

Omar had pledged that a resolution seeking the restoration of statehood would be passed at the first cabinet meeting, which was held on Thursday.

His party, the National Conference, shared a video of the meeting on Thursday and said several important issues were discussed. But there was no word from the government or the party on what was discussed at the meeting.

A furore broke out on Friday after a Jammu-based newspaper reported that the cabinet passed the statehood resolution and that Omar would travel to Delhi to meet top government leaders with the plea.

There was no reaction from the Jammu and Kashmir government till Friday evening. A National Conference leader neither confirmed nor denied the report, merely saying that the party would issue a formal response.

Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone asked why a cabinet resolution on statehood should be so shrouded in secrecy “that only one newspaper publishes it”.

He also asked why the resolution — if there was one — was passed in the cabinet and not the Assembly.

“(The) cabinet is a majoritarian institution of governance. It does not reflect all shades and opinions as per the will of the people of J and K,” he said.

Lone recalled that when the then National Conference government had come up with a resolution seeking greater autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir in 2000, it had passed it in the Assembly and notthe cabinet.

“What has changed now? (I) fail to understand why this resolution should not have been reserved for (the) Assembly. Why are we so keen to trivialise everything?” he said.

Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter and media adviser Iltija Mufti asked whether the development bode “well for J&K when the first cabinet meet is shrouded in secrecy about a resolution on restoring statehood” and there is not a “squeak about restoring J&Ks special status”.

“Isn’t this fait accompli, whitewashing & legitimising Delhi’s illegal brutal disempowerment & disrobing of India’s only Muslim majority state? Not a scale back but utter surrender,” she wrote on X.

Peoples Democratic Party youth president and Pulwama MLA Waheed Parra said the purported resolution amounted to a ratification of the August 5, 2019, changes that downgraded the status of Jammu and Kashmir.

“No resolution on Article 370 and scaling down the demand to mere statehood is a huge setback, especially after seeking votes on the promise of restoring Article 370,” Parra wrote on X.

BJP leader Tarun Chugh accused Omar of playing politics on statehood. He claimed that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah had made a commitment on the floor of the House that statehood would be restored.

The state government has allotted portfolios to the five members of the cabinet.

A government order said deputy chief minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary would hold charge of public works (R&B), industries and commerce, mining, labour and employment, and skill development.

The lone woman minister, Sakeena Masood (Itoo), has been assigned the key ministries of health and medical education, school education, higher education, and social welfare.

Javed Ahmed Rana has been allocated the departments of Jal Shakti, forest, ecology & environment, and tribal affairs.

Javid Ahmad Dar will be minister of agriculture production, rural development and panchayati raj, cooperative, and election.

Satish Sharma has been given food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, transport, science and technology, and some other portfolios.