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| Let cabinet making be a rotational process | | | Cabinet expansion is on the cards.The vacancy in the council of ministers is 15 after 10-member cabinet was sworn in January last.More important than filling the vacant seats is who is going to get berth in the ministry which is going to have a two-tier formation..Reports indicate that Omar Abdullah plans to add five more faces in the cabinet and the remaining ten may be sworn in as ministers of state Since the constitutional amendment of 2005 provides for restrictions on the size of the ministry Omar's hands are tight as he cannot afford to take more than 25 members in the council of ministers.Under the constitutional provision the size of ministry should be 20 per cent of the strength of the state legislature.The constitutional amendment received the Governor's assent in January 2006.As such the NC-Congress leadership may not be able to please majority of legislators.When Mufti Mohd.Sayeed was the Chief Minister between 2002 and 2005 he had no restrictions in inducting ministers in the cabinet.At the time Mufti hung the boots the council of ministers headed by him had 39 members.It was he who could accommodate more faces from the PDP and the Congress besides those from the Peoples' Democr atic Front and thePanthers Party.If one takes into account the numerical strength of the PDP-Congress alliance the two had 44 MLAs and this time the Congress-NC has the same number of MLAs. In case the NC bagged the Hazratbal seat,for which the election will be held on June 3,the strength may go up to 45.During the time of the Mufti's chief Ministership not more than eight MLAs,belonging to the Congress and the PDP, could not be accommodated in the council of ministers.If Omar Abdullah decides to fill all the 15 vacant seats he may have to keep more than 19 MLA's,belonging to the Congress and the National Conference,out of the cabinet.He may try to keep more legislators happy by appointing them heads of Boards and corporations.Well,Omar has six years tenure.He can have the council of ministers on a rotational basis. In all he may have 25 faces in the council of ministers.Let him retain these faces for three years and after that bring in another set of legislators for another three years.He may retain about a dozen senior legislators in the cabinet for full six years.This can give a chance to others also to enjoy power.If it is done it may leave no scope for dissensions and heart burns.Let Omar test this experiment.
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