No representative from Jammu city makes it to Cabinet

Amit Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 1

The City of Temples — Jammu — did not get any representation in the Cabinet of the new PDP-BJP coalition government which took oath today.

All three Assembly segments of Jammu city —Jammu East, Jammu West and Gandhi Nagar — were ignored by the new coalition as no elected representative from these constituencies made it to the Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

All three seats were won by the saffron party in the Assembly elections held in November-December 2014.

In the 2008 Assembly elections, the Jammu East and Jammu West Assembly constituencies were won by the BJP candidates following the Amarnath land row while the Gandhi Nagar seat was retained by former Congress stalwart Raman Bhalla who lost to BJP candidate Kavinder Gupta in the 2014 Assembly elections.

During the previous National Conference and Congress coalition government, Bhalla was given key portfolios.

People of Jammu city were disappointed with the decision of not giving space to their elected representatives in the Cabinet.

“Jammu is one of the capitals of the state. At least one MLA should have be taken as the Cabinet minister,” said Ravinder Gupta, a resident of Gandhi Nagar.

“All three MLAs were from BJP. The party should have respected the mandate of the people by accommodating them in the Cabinet,” Gupta said.

Rajesh Gupta from Jammu East, Sat Sharma from Jammu West and Kavinder Gupta from Gandhi Nagar constituencies didn’t get space in the Council of Ministers.

However, Priya Sethi, president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, took oath as a Minister of State. She is not the elected representative of the people of Jammu city. She belongs to the Jammu East constituency.

Sources said Kavinder Gupta may be elected as the Speaker of the 12th Legislative Assembly.