Jammu & Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra on Friday nominated Tassaduq Mufti, brother of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, for the vacant MLC seat in the Assembly, paving the way for his induction into the Cabinet.
A Raj Bhavan spokesman said that in exercise of powers vested in the Governor under sub-section (6) of Section 50 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Vohra nominated Mr. Mufti as a member of the Council.
He is likely to take oath as an MLC on December 26. Of late, Mr. Mufti, who worked as a coordinator of the CM’s grievance cell, has faced criticism within the bureaucracy and from the Opposition National Conference for calling meetings of many departments.
Mr. Mufti is likely to be made Minister during the upcoming Assembly session in Jammu.
In a separate development, Governor Vohra accepted the resignation of Syed Farooq Andrabi, Minister of State (MoS), Haj, Power Development Department, and Public Health Engineering.
Mr. Andrabi is an uncle of Ms. Mufti.
His resignation is aimed at fending off any criticism of “promoting too many relatives in the Cabinet”, said a PDP source.