Jammu,
The Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet on Monday saw a major reshuffle with the BJP inducting four new faces and Speaker Kavinder Gupta swapping places with Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.

The party dropped Health Minister Bali Bhagat and Minister of State for Tourism Priya Sethi. Nirmal Singh would be the new Speaker, senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said.

The PDP dropped Law Minister Abdul Haq Khan. It inducted Pulwama MLA Mohd Khalil Band and Sonwar MLA Mohd Ashraf Mir. Both had served in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government. The ministers were administered oath by Governor NN Vohra at the Convention Centre here.

BJP’s state unit chief Satpal Sharma, who is MLA from Jammu West; Rajiv Jasrotia, party’s Kathua MLA; and Devinder Kumar Manyal, representing Samba, were sworn in amid slogans of “Bharat mata ki jai”.

Sunil Sharma, Minister of State for Transport (independent charge), was elevated to Cabinet rank. BJP’s Shakti Raj Parihar was sworn in as Minister of State.

Kavinder Gupta was the first to take oath, followed by PDP’s Mohammad Khalil Band and others. Jasrotia and Parihar of the BJP and Mir of the PDP took oath in English. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and party in-charge of J&K affairs Avinash Rai Khanna attended the function.

The BJP had on April 13 asked all its ministers to submit their resignations. The resignations of Choudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, who had attended a rally in support of a CBI probe into the Kathua rape and murder case, were accepted on April 14.

As per the Constitution of the state, J&K can have a maximum of 25 ministers, including the CM. The PDP holds 14 portfolios and the remaining are with the BJP.