Omar: Ministry shield

New Delhi, Jan. 2: Omar Abdullah has learnt from his grandfather’s mistake and told the Congress his party wants the home and finance ministries.

The tradition of the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister retaining the home portfolio dates back to Sheikh Abdullah.

When Sheikh Abdullah was Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister — as the head of the state’s government was once known — he put his deputy, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, in charge of home, little realising the risks in the move.

In 1948, when Sheikh Abdullah was away to represent India’s case on Jammu and Kashmir at the UN, Bakshi took over as chief administrator. In August 1953, Bakshi helped the Centre dismiss the state government and imprison Sheikh Abdullah, and was rewarded with the state Prime Minister’s post. When a wiser Sheikh Abdullah later returned to power, he kept the home ministry with himself.

If a chief minister has to be booked, it is done through the home minister even if the orders come from outside the state. “There is no reason to believe Omar would depart from this convention,” a source said.

Congress sources said the party had asked for the public works and rural development ministries, which are generously subsidised by the Centre.

The Congress has been chagrined to see many Opposition-led state governments walk away with the applause after implementing centrally sponsored development programmes.

“We don’t want a repeat in Jammu and Kashmir,” said a state leader, adding that the Congress planned to fight the Lok Sabha polls from the state on the development plank.

“The high turnout showed the importance people gave to electricity, water and roads over aazadi. We could not build on this sentiment because the BJP and the PDP exploited the Amarnath issue. But in the general poll, we want divisive matters to be kept out of the political discourse.”

Former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has told Omar the Congress wants the tourism ministry, in part because of the initiatives he had taken to restore the state’s primacy on the travel map, sources said.

Congress sources sounded annoyed with Omar for “dictating” terms on the sort of cabinet he would like, free of “tainted” representatives. His stand has faced the Congress with a problem as most of its uncontroversial candidates lost while those implicated in the “sex scandal” won.