SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti inducted her brother Tassaduq along with a PDP legislator into her cabinet on Thursday, taking the number of ministers in the BJP-PDP coalition to 25.
Jammu & Kashmir governor N N Vohra administered the oath to him and PDP MLA from Chadoora, Javed Mustafa Mir, at a swearing-in ceremony in the lawns of Raj Bhawan in Jammu, the winter capital of the state.
Soon after the oath of office, Tassaduq said he will try to fulfil the dreams of his father late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. “Only time will reflect my contribution in restoring peace in the state,” he said.
Tassaduq was last week nominated as MLC by Vohra on recommendations of the state government against the vacant seat created with the resignation of Vikramaditya Singh.
The son of Karan Singh of the Congress party quit PDP and membership of the legislative council after the government refused to declare a holiday on the birthday of his grandfather, Maharaja Hari Singh, the last king of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir.
The two ministers will be allocated portfolios soon. The entire secretariat is rife with rumours about a possible reshuffle.
Due to massive violence during the Srinagar Lok Sabha bypoll in April this year, Tassaduq and the state government requested the election commission to postpone indefinitely the Anantnag bypolls which he was going to contest. A senior electoral official said, the bypoll will not be held till the election commission is satisfied with the security situation in the valley.
Tassaduq had been heading chief minister’s grievance cell with a cabinet minister’s status since May this year. However, two weeks ago, he resigned from the position. With the bypoll nowhere in sight, chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti decided to induct him into her cabinet.
Tassaduq, 45, is the last of the four children of the former CM Mufti Sayeed. The only brother of three older sisters, Tassaduq mostly stayed away from Kashmir valley and earned praise for art of cinematography in movies like Omkara.
Instead of his native village, Bijibehra in Anantnag, Tassaduq studied and lived in a government flat in Tulsibagh, Srinagar. Tassaduq is not known to have thrown his weight around for being the son of a famous father in his friend circles in Mumbai where he worked.
After his father’s death in January 2016, Tassaduq chose to stay back in Kashmir. A couple of weeks later, he began meeting young entrepreneurs, boys and girls with start-up projects, coffee shops, boutiques, Kashmir arts, giving them tips on funding, packaging and markets. Tassaduq also established an NGO called Araasta trust at his private Nogam residence in the outskirts of Srinagar. Tassaduq wants to revive tourism sector in Kashmir which has suffered massively due to terrorist violence.
His two kids and wife Radhika Kapur live in Bangalore.
Source : timesofindia
