Governor returns Tassaduq Mufti’s papers with queries, Minister of State for Haj and Auqaf resigns

Governor NN Vohra has returned to the government with queries the nomination papers of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s brother Tassaduq Mufti to the Legislative Council.
Sources in the PDP-BJP government said the Governor had raised certain queries over the procedure and the circumstances suggesting Tassaduq’s nomination as a member of the Legislative Council to fill the vacancy caused by resignation of PDP’s MLC Vikramditya Singh from the House a few weeks ago. Vikramditya had also quit the PDP to protest against what he alleged the discriminatory attitude of the government towards the Jammu region. The council chairman had accepted his resignation.
According to the sources, the Governor had raised a query that how a nomination could be recommended when the case of the nominations made to the council in 2015 was pending before the courts. The nomination of seven members recommended by the then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed were challenged in the court.
He has also sought full details about Tassaduq Mufti as to what forms the basis for his nomination to the council.
The civil secretariat sources confirmed that they had received the queries raised by Vohra this afternoon. The sources said the government would reply to all these queries in a couple of days. Tassaduq is tipped to be inducted into the ministry in the place of his uncle Farooq Ahmad Andrabi, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Farooq Ahmad Andrabi, Minister of State for Haj and Auqaf 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).

Vacating slot for nephew
To pave the way for his nephew Tassaduq Hussain, Minister of State for Haj and Auqaf Farooq Ahmad Andrabi has tendered his resignation
Andrabi held a number of portfolios, including industries, irrigation and flood control, power and public health engineering