A mysterious luncheon in Dachigam

The surprise Dachigam alfresco lunch organised by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his legislators on June 3, 2026 was dissected more for the venue and the selfies. Rules such as no Internet and self-service for the legislators during the luncheon turned the Dachigam National Park meeting into an enigma. The fact remains that it was a rare bid by the 20-month-old Chief Minister to address the growing anxiety within the party over a slew of brewing issues.

This year, Mr. Abdullah completed more than one-and-a-half-years of ruling J&K as a Union Territory (UT), which now has an enervated power sharing system in a region that once enjoyed the highest degree of autonomy. There are two-fold issues still at hand for Mr. Abdullah: one, establishing the writ of the elected government over bureaucracy and, two, implementing a governance model through above-par performance of Ministers. A fair assessment suggests that Mr. Abdullah has failed to deliver on these two counts.

The Omar Abdullah government has failed to finalise and ensure the ‘Transaction of Business’ rules, essential to determine the domains of the Chief Minister, the Council of Ministers (CoM) and the Lieutenant Governor (L-G). The seven-year-old UT is yet to determine the powers of the CM, the CoM and the L-G. This fluid situation has further hamstrung the elected Chief Minister. If the UT model takes away the CM’s say in security matters, the lack of Transaction of Business rules makes him unable to control bureaucrats. Currently, J&K has L-G-walla bureaucrats, a term used for pro-L-G officials, and CM-walla bureaucrats, but no J&K-walla officers to address the governance issues of the people, who turned up in record numbers outside the polling booths in the 2024 Assembly elections.

Mr. Abdullah blames the Centre for the delay in approval of the business rules. But there has been no visible protest over the lack of it either. This has allowed a drift in official loyalty in other directions.

‘Internal matters’

Mr. Abdullah also faces palace intrigues. There is a growing desire among a large section of National Conference (NC) legislators to see a Cabinet expansion. In a 90-member UT, a Chief Minister can have a Cabinet size of 10% of the total strength of the Assembly. Mr. Abdullah has filled six ministerial berths and reserved three for its ally, the Congress. However, the Congress has taken the position “not to join the government till Statehood is restored”. NC legislators from Srinagar, who are around eight in number, are openly talking about the need to have a Minister from the summer capital of J&K. At present, the Omar Abdullah Cabinet gives fair representation to the Jammu division by having a deputy Chief Minister, who is not from the NC, and two Ministers from the region. However, several NC legislators argue that the party won around 36 assembly segments from the Kashmir division and remains poorly represented in the Cabinet. While Cabinet Minister Sakina Itoo represents south Kashmir, Javed Dar is a voice from north Kashmir.

Mr. Abdullah has always brushed aside media questions on Cabinet expansion as an “internal matter of the party”. However, the fact remains that it is a question of representation and a matter of concern for his voters, even legislators. In Srinagar, NC voters yearn for interfaces with the government to raise their grievances, and get them addressed. Besides, most posts of the government boards remain unfilled, with the party being indecisive if legislators could be made heads or not. These headless boards have failed to work in sync with the government’s vision.

In 2009, when Mr. Abdullah became Chief Minister for the first time, he had 10 Cabinet Ministers and 14 junior Ministers. Currently, there are Ministers with around a dozen portfolios, impacting the functioning of these departments. More Ministers in the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar will bring more bureaucrats under the government to deliver policies in an efficient manner.

It was always a crown of thorns to be a Chief Minister of a UT. In fact, Mr. Abdullah, ahead of the 2024 election, had predicted the functioning of the UT government: “I can’t see myself in a position where I have to ask the L-G to pick my peon, sitting and waiting outside for him to sign the file”. For Mr. Abdullah, the only option is to put up a fight and ensure that on the governance front he does not draw flak from his voters.