Dalai Lama congratulates Omar Abdullah on appointment as Jammu Kashmir CM

Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], October 17 (ANI): Dalai Lama wrote to congratulate Omar Abdullah on his coalition’s success in the recent Assembly Polls and his appointment as the Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir in the Assembly polls.

“As I have mentioned before, I have had the privilege of knowing three generations of your family from the days of Sheikh Abdullah to you. I treasure our friendship. I wish you every success in meeting whatever challenges may lie ahead and the opportunities arise to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of the people of Jammu & Kashmir,” he wrote.

On Wednesday, Abdullah took oath as the Jammu Kashmir CM and started his innings with a people-friendly gesture and conveyed that he has asked the police to not have a “green corridor” or traffic stoppage during his movement by road.

He also asked the police to make sure that minimum inconvenience was caused to the people.

The National Conference leader was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the LG Manoj Sinha at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar.

Surinder Kumar, MLA from Nowshera in Jammu, was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir along with other ministers.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other leaders of the INDIA bloc were also present for the swearing-in ceremony.

After taking the oath, Omar Abdullah received a guard of honour at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar and held his first maiden meeting with secretaries of various departments.

He also said that the use of stick or aggressive gestures during road movements is to be avoided. He said he has asked his cabinet colleagues to follow the same example.

Omar Abdullah, who is heading the National Conference-led government in the state, has the backing of other parties in the INDIA alliance and four independents. The NC-Congress alliance won a majority in the assembly polls.

Omar Abdullah had earlier served as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2009 and 2015.