Mufti does a balancing act, now it's time to deliver

Even the best balancing act leaves the rope swinging precariously, a senior journalist in Srinagar quipped, referring to the recent Cabinet expansion by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Sayeed has tried to apply his much vaunted 'healing touch' to keep his flock of supporters together. That is why as many as eight independents and 10 Congress legislators have got plum portfolios.

"Though the number of ministers is now 29, which is the number Farooq Abdullah had, the complexion of the new ministry proves the skill with which Sayeed has tried to accommodate regional, political and party aspirations," Mohammad Sultan, a local Congress politician, said.

The remote Ladakh region has two Cabinet ministers for the first time since 1947. Eight independents becoming ministers is also a first of its kind.

Sayeed's fine balancing act is clear in the composition of individual ministries too. If a major ministry is headed by a member of his People's Democratic Party, he will have a junior minister from the ranks of the Congress or the independents to assist him, and vice-versa. For instance, while the public works department is with Madan Lal Sharma of the Congress, his minister of state is Abdul Rehman Veeri of the PDP.

"Now that he has the full team in place, the mufti's government should start playing the match," a political observer remarked. Since the government took office on November 2, much of its work has remained pending.

"My Cabinet will not be subordinate to the bureaucracy," the mufti said in Jammu after the swearing-in ceremony. "The final decisions will be taken by the state Cabinet and not be dictated by the bureaucracy. My Cabinet has a galaxy of political minds."

The mufti said he was pursuing an agenda of restoration of peace, good governance and socio-economic development.

"Now that the much-awaited Cabinet expansion has been effected, Sayeed's government must deliver on its lofty promises of clean administration, transparent governance and, above all, the proverbial healing touch," said Abdul Rashid, a college lecturer. "Otherwise poverty has been such a curse in Kashmir that everybody coming to power concentrates on removing it immediately from his own home."