Kashmir Impulse Desk
Srinagar, Oct 27
The Congress will not join Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s cabinet until statehood is restored to the region, J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President Tariq Hamid Karra said on Tuesday.
Karra said the party had adopted the position two years ago and would not abandon it in exchange for a ministerial berth.
“We have taken a principled stand, and we cannot sacrifice that principled stand for the sake of a cabinet berth,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the cabinet expansion.
About reports that Abdullah had contacted the Congress about joining the government, Karra said the issue was not who had approached the party but whether it would change its decision.
He described cabinet reshuffles as routine but said the statutory limit on the size of Jammu and Kashmir’s Council of Ministers (CoM), which is linked to 10 percent of the 90-member Assembly, made the exercise more difficult while the region remains a Union Territory.
