Uncle of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was among four fresh faces in the new PDP-BJP government which was sworn-in today, three months after the sudden demise of then incumbent Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Farooq Andrabi, brother-in-law of late Mufti Sayeed, had contested Assembly election from South Kashmir's Dooru Assembly constituency defeating Congress stalwart G A Mir by a margin of only 161 votes.
The induction of Andrabi into the cabinet is seen as a strategy of PDP to strengthen its base in the once stronghold of Congress from where G A Mir, who is currently JKPCC Chief, had won two consecutive elections of 2002 and 2008.
The four new faces were two each from PDP and BJP.
Another new face from the PDP is Zahoor Ahmed Dar, MLA from South Kashmir's Pampore Assembly constituency.
Two new faces from the BJP quota are Sham Choudhary, who has been three-time MLA from the Suchetgarh Assembly constituency and is one of the senior most leaders of BJP in the state.
Ajay Nanda, who has been inducted as Minister of State, is a first-time MLA from the Reasi Assembly constituency.
Five ministers in the Mufti Sayeed Council of Ministers did not find a place in Mehbooba's government.
They included Altaf Bukhari of PDP, who was Public Works Department (PWD) Minister in the previous dispensation, and Javed Mustafa Mir of PDP, who held the portfolio of Revenue during the Mufti-led government.
Abdul Majid Paddar of PDP, who was minister of state in the previous PDP-BJP dispensation, was also dropped this time.
From BJP quota, two former ministers were unable to secure berth in the Mehbooba-led government.
They were Sukhnandan Choudhary, BJP MLA from Marh Assembly constituency who was Minister for Public Health Engineering and Irrigation in the previous government, and BJP's rebel candidate from Udhampur Assembly constituency Pawan Gupta, who was minister of state for finance from the BJP quota in the previous dispensation.
