Cabinet meet: No consensus on transfers, CM leaves in a huff

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 9

The state Cabinet, which met here under Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, ended on a sour note when she left the meeting without waiting for other ministers to leave the venue.

To bring down the tempers and pacify each other, the PDP and BJP ministers were seen entering the chambers of Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and senior PDP minister Naeem Akhter.

When they came out of the civil secretariat, BJP ministers were visibly upset and left in a hurry.

Sources told The Tribune that there was no consensus between the PDP and BJP ministers on transfers in the civil administration and the Police Department.

“The transfers were in the non-agenda list but despite sitting in the meeting for around two hours, the consensus on transfers was not reached,” said a source.

The Cabinet met at 4 pm, first time after the Darbar opened in the winter capital on November 7, and culminated at 6.05 pm. As the meet ended, CM Mehbooba Mufti didn’t wait for other ministers to leave the venue and left the civil secretariat without any further delay.

After the meet, Deputy CM Nirmal Singh went to meet Mehbooba Mufti at her residence. Senior PDP minister Abdul Rehman Veeri also reached there.

No minister came on record as to what happened at the meeting but a minister told The Tribune that no transfer was approved in the meeting.

There was also no official briefing by the government spokesperson on the decisions taken in the meeting. Besides, there was no consensus on amending the Panchayati Raj Act.