Jammu, Oct 14: Assured of winning three Rajya Sabha seats, the National Conference is likely to field party chief and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah and another leader from Kashmir besides one from Jammu division for Upper House of the Parliament while NC leader Surinder Choudhary who defeated BJP UT chief Ravinder Raina in Nowshera is all set to be included in the Council of Ministry.
Sakina Itoo, one of the two women MLAs who won the election on National Conference mandate and Saifullah Mir, senior leader from Kupwara district are also expected to find berth in the Ministry.
Insiders in the party told the that name of Dr Farooq Abdullah has been finalized by the National Conference for the Rajya Sabha, Nasir Aslam Wani, senior NC leader who lost the Assembly election, is also being considered either for Rajya Sabha or for by-election to Budgam Assembly seat which NC vice president and Chief Minister-designate Omar Abdullah is likely to vacate.
Omar won the election from two Assembly seats of Ganderbal and Budgam. He is expected to keep Ganderbal and leave Budgam.
Insiders said the National Conference is expected to field its two leaders from the Kashmir valley including Dr Farooq Abdullah for Rajya Sabha elections while it is likely to give third seat to a senior party leader from Jammu division.
The National Conference having won 42 seats and with assured support of seven others has 49 MLAs. The Congress won six seats taking Alliance tally to 55. With this, the NC-led alliance can win three out of four Rajya Sabha seats while the BJP with 29 seats can safely get the fourth seat.
Jammu and Kashmir has four Rajya Sabha seats which are vacant since February 2021 as all four MPs elected in February 2015 had completed their six-year term. Elections to Rajya Sabha seats from the UT were delayed in the absence of Legislative Assembly.
Meanwhile, as per the party insiders, Sakina Itoo is likely to find berth in the Council of Ministry. Itoo and Shamima Firdous are the only two women MLAs who have been elected to the Legislative Assembly on National Conference mandate. Congress has no woman MLA.
Among father-son duo of Ali Mohammed Sagar and Salman Sagar, one is almost certain to be inducted in the Ministry.
Hasnain Masoodi, a former Lok Sabha member and now an MLA and Javed Rana, a fourth time legislator including third time MLA from Mendhar are also expected to be included in the Ministry.
Saifullah Mir is also expected to be included in the Council of Ministry from Kupwara district Saifullah is also a 4th time MLA. Surinder Choudhary, National Conference MLA who defeated BJP UT chief Ravinder Raina in Nowshera, is all set to find berth in the Ministry.
There are only two Hindu faces of the NC who have made it to the Legislative Assembly including Choudhary and Arjun Singh Raju from Ramban. However, among five Independent MLAs from Jammu division who have extended support to the NC, three are Hindus including Pyare Lal Sharma (Inderwal), Satish Sharma (Chhamb) and Dr Romeshwar Singh (Bani).
There has been no Hindu MLA in the Congress as all its Hindu candidates lost the Assembly elections including two working presidents-Raman Bhalla and Tara Chand.
As far as the Congress is concerned, the party leaders said, the high command will take a call tomorrow evening after receiving offer from the National Conference on number of the Ministries it will give to the junior partner.
“The Congress high command will take a decision tomorrow evening after getting the NC offer,” the insiders said.
Congress has won only six seats in the Assembly elections including five from Kashmir division and one from Jammu region.
