Jammu, December 20: Farooq Ahmad Andrabi, Minister of State for Haj and Aquaf and uncle of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, has tendered his resignation from the ministry apparently to pave the way for the induction of his nephew Tassaduq Hussain into the ministry.
Official sources said the Chief Minister had forwarded the resignation of Andrabi to Governor NN Vohra with a recommendation for acceptance. Andrabi has cited “personal reasons” for quitting the ministry. Tassaduq’s induction into the ministry is likely to happen before the commencement of the Budget session on January 2.
Andrabi, inducted into the ministry on April 4, 2016, wielded a lot of power being the Chief Minister’s uncle. He also held a number of portfolios, including industries, irrigation and flood control, power and public health engineering.
Sources in the PDP said Andrabi had to step down so that the party could avoid the criticism that the Chief Minister was having more than one family member in the ministry.
There, however, has been a precedent to that effect. Sheikh Abdullah had his son Farooq Abdullah and son-in-law GM Shah in his ministry in 1982. Farooq Abdullah had his brother Sheikh Mustafa Kamal in his ministry in two terms (1987 to 1990, and 1996 to 2002).
