Union Ministers miss swearing-in of Mehbooba Mufti, Nirmal Singh

JAMMU: Three Union Ministers who were special invitees from the Centre for the swearing-in ceremony of the BJP-PDP government here arrived at the function only after Mehbooba Mufti and her deputy Nirmal Singh had completed taking the oath.

The three Ministers -- Venkaiah Naidu (Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs), Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Food Processing) and Jitendra Singh (Minister of State in the PMO) reached the Raj Bhawan 15 minutes after the ceremony had started.

By that time, state Governor N N Vohra had sworn in Mehbooba, who became the first woman Chief Minister of the Jammu and Kashmir, and her Deputy Nirmal Singh.

The three ministers took off from Delhi airport only at 9:30 AM in the morning in a special aircraft. The ceremony started at around 11 AM.

The swearing-in ceremony was held this time at Raj Bhavan in Jammu.