J&K Cabinet reshuffle: Amidst Kathua heat, Deputy CM Nirmal Singh who backed Mehbooba Mufti resigns; BJP to bring fresh faces

Amidst brutal rape and murder case in Jammu's Kathua district triggered a series of issues, the Saffron party has decided to bring major cabinet reshuffle in the J&K government. The Mehbooba Mufti-led Jammu and Kashmir government's Cabinet reshuffle will take place on Monday noon. The BJP alliance with People's Democratic Party (PDP) is all set to bring some fresh faces.

Following the reshuffle, the Bjp leader Nirmal Singh step down from J&K's Deputy CM as Speaker Kavinder Gupta is said to take the post. "I have resigned from the post to pave the way for a new deputy chief minister in the state," Singh told news agencies. Nirmal Singh is said to have good terms with CM Mehbooba, who had backed her decision to stick to a Crime Branch probe in Kathua case.

Sources said from the BJP side, six ministers would take oath, at a ceremony to be held in Jammu, including five Cabinet ministers and one MoS. Apart from Gupta, the other new faces are said to be BJP state president and Jammu West MLA Sat Sharma and D K Manyal (Samba MLA). Sunil Sharma, who held the Minister of State for Transport (independent charge) portfolio, would be elevated to Cabinet rank, as per a report in India Express.

The two new ministers would be Rajiv Jasrotia (Kathua MLA), who will get Cabinet rank, and Shakti Parihar (Doda MLA), as MoS, sources said.

As per the report, earlier the BJP asked all of its ministers in the Mehbooba Mufti-led government to resign except Nirmal Singh, after two of its ministers had to quit. BJP's Chander Prakash Ganga and Choudhary Lal Singh had to quit from their respective post over their stand in the Kathua rape and murder case protests.

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