Srinagar, Oct 27: Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Chaudhury on Tuesday dismissed speculation over alleged resentment within the National Conference following the cabinet expansion, urging the media not to turn the issue into a controversy.
“There is no resentment. The media seems to be carrying all the pain. I would appeal to you not to make a mountain out of a molehill. There is nothing unusual about this; it is normal,” Chaudhury told reporters.
Questioning the media’s coverage of the cabinet expansion, he said there had been repeated questions about the delay in expanding the cabinet, but the narrative had changed after the exercise was completed.
“When the National Conference cabinet expansion was not taking place, you kept asking every day when it would happen. Now that it has happened and someone has not been accommodated, you have started raising a new issue,” he said.
Chaudhury urged the media to allow the newly inducted ministers to focus on governance, arguing that the expansion would help distribute the workload within the government.
“If you want the people of Jammu and Kashmir to benefit, give the new ministers and this government an opportunity to work,” he said.
“You used to say that five ministers were overburdened. Now four more ministers have been inducted, but you must understand that people cannot deliver unless you give them an opportunity to work,” he added.
Don’t turn it into a spectacle
Drawing a comparison with differences within families, Chaudhury said disagreements were normal and should not be unnecessarily amplified in public.
“As far as the family is concerned, do things not go up and down in your own families? Are there not tensions and differences between family members? But do you go outside and beat the drums about them?” he asked.
“Please do not try to turn this into a spectacle. My appeal is that you take this in a healthy way,” he said.
Chaudhury also challenged the media to question the BJP over its own decisions on cabinet expansion, arguing that similar scrutiny should be applied to other political parties.
The remarks came after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expanded his cabinet on Tuesday, inducting four new ministers into the Jammu and Kashmir government.
