Jammu

“Gadi phir nikal gyi”: Thanks to Gujjar-Pahari politics, the Poonch Haveli constituency ignored again in the J&K cabinet expansion, Javed Rana proved heavy over Ajaz Jan; For Kashmir leadership, Poonch-Rajouri stands nowhere

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Published on

November 1, 2026

SALIL RAINA

(POONCH TODAY NEWS)

POONCH: The much-awaited cabinet expansion took place a few days back in which four ministers, namely Ali Mohd Sagar, Mir Saifullah, Shameema Firdous, and Altaf Ahmed Kallo, were inducted into the cabinet, while independent MLA from the Chhamb constituency, Satish Sharma, was dropped. Immediately after the swearing-in ceremony, cracks within the National Conference started to appear as several MLAs expressed their displeasure over being ignored, while some other NC MLAs held secret meetings to decide about their future plan in addition to demanding removal of Nasir Aslam Sogami, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and those ministers who have completed two years in office. Meanwhile, in the cabinet expansion, the biggest jolt was given to the Pahari community of Poonch, as only one member of the Pahari community was not inducted again, although the Deputy CM, who represents the Nowshera constituency, belongs to the Pahari ethnic tribe.

Total ignoring the Pahari community of Poonch by the National Conference leadership has started a huge debate in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch that the Gujjar-Pahari policies dominated the decision of the cabinet expansion, as MLA Haveli Ajaz Jan, who took a record number of 42,807 votes by defeating his rival BJP candidate Ch Abdul Gani by 22,081 votes in the 2024 assembly election, was ignored. Gani took 20,726 votes. The Poonch-based NC cadre threatened to leave the party if the party high command failed to address their concern within ten days. It is pertinent to mention here that the successive Kashmir-based political parties always ignored the Poonch Haveli constituency as far as cabinet status is concerned. From 1996 onwards, the National Conference won the Poonch Haveli seat four times, while Congress and the PDP managed to win the seat one time each, but the prestigious seat never got a cabinet status. Poonch and Rajouri remained a stronghold of the National Conference for decades, but the Surankote and Mendhar constituencies in the Poonch district got cabinet minister status, but the district headquarters was denied the status for nearly four decades. People cutting across party lines have shown their utter displeasure over the attitude of the Kashmir-based political parties, which always ignored the Poonch Haveli constituency. After the recent cabinet expansion, the majority of NC and independent MLAs of Rajouri and Poonch have shown their anger on social media and said that they were weighing all pros and cons before deciding on their future course of action. A few days before cabinet expansion, some MLAs of Rajouri and Poonch met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and demanded to remove the Deputy Chief Minister from the cabinet, but in a big jolt to them, the Chief Minister backed the Deputy Chief Minister again during the cabinet expansion, and it clearly shows that the Chief Minister has shown thumb-in-bad-sense to those MLAs. Highly placed sources within the National Conference camp told “POONCH TODAY” that the Chief Minister was fully aware of the huge malpractices of some National Conference MLAs, and this could be the reason that many contenders were not considered for the cabinet berth. Meanwhile, there is a huge resentment among the people of Poonch and Rajouri, especially the Pahari ethnic tribe against the national conference leadership. A senior BJP leader, while commenting on the situation that emerged after the cabinet expansion, said, “It’s the BJP that gave ST status to the Pahari ethnic tribe before the elections, but what happened after the result of the assembly elections shocked the BJP high command. But it’s unfortunate that if a large chunk of Paharis, despite getting ST status from BJP, opted to vote for the National Conference, they deserved a cabinet berth from Poonch district.” The same BJP leader further added, “Yehi Poonch, Rajouri ke leaders bolte hain ki hame Kashmir ke sath jodo, dekh loo bhaiyo, Kashmirion ki nazar mein aap kahin stand nahi karte, Jammu division ke sath hi aap safe ho.” (Poonch and Rajouri leaders always want to go with the Kashmir region, but look, in the eyes of Kashmiri leadership, you stand nowhere. You are safe only with the Jammu division.” It is important to note that Poonch Haveli always remained an anti-BJP seat, as NC, PDP, and Congress managed to win several times, but what Kashmiri leaders gave in return to the people and leaders of Poonch Haveli is a matter of grave concern. Although all elected MLAs came from Mandi Tehsil, all of them failed to build a strong road from Chandak to Loran and Sawjian for nearly five decades. What to talk about in other developmental works? This clearly shows that all the elected MLAs had no vision and the same ideology of dodging the public on false excuses by showing them blue moon; unfortunately, it is still going on. On the other hand, MLA Mendhar Javed Rana proved heavy over the aspirations of MLA Haveli Ajaz Jan; as reportedly, there was a huge cast-based backing for Javed Rana at the national level that compelled the NC leadership to repeat him. Even the prominent Gujjar face of sitting MP Mian Altaf was ignored, as his son was also an aspirant for the cabinet berth. Overall, Javed Rana proved heavy overall for all the aspirants because of his calculated and strategic cast-based support, from J&K to across the nation. For decades, the leaders from Poonch and Rajouri, belonging to different political parties, never proved their mettle at the UT level, and this could be the reason that they were not considered for cabinet berth, mostly, and Poonch Haveli is one such example. The majority of leaders and elected representatives don’t understand the fact that even their minute activities always remain under the radar of the watchful eyes of intelligence agencies and big brains that operate silently and can cause huge damages to them anytime, so it’s important for political leaders to prove their mettle purely on merit to impress the top brass of various political parties to consider them on merit for various constitutional posts. Has the Kashmiri leadership known the fact that the political leaders of Poonch and Rajouri, especially the Pahari leaders, have no vision, and this is the reason that they don’t deserve a cabinet berth? After the cabinet expansion in which the much-deserving Poonch haveli constituency was ignored, a prominent think tank of Poonch, in a lighter vein, said, “Gadi phir nikal gyi.”