Jammu, April 29: The much-awaited reshuffle of the Jammu and Kashmir coalition ministry will be done on Monday, with Governor N.N. Vohra on Sunday extending a formal invitation for the event.
The swearing-in of new Ministers in Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's Cabinet by the Governor is scheduled to held at noon at the Convention Centre instead of Raj Bhavan as all government offices here shut down on Saturday ahead of a six-month sojourn in summer capital Srinagar.
Vohra extended invitation to state Ministers, legislators and the media for the event.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sources said that no new faces from the party will be inducted in the Council of Ministers.
One ministerial berth that fell vacant after the dropping of then Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu from the Council of Ministers will not be filled by the ruling party now.
The sources, however, did not rule out minor reallocation of portfolios among the PDP Ministers.
Its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to induct some new faces and also withdraw some of its Ministers from the Council of Ministers.
The names doing the rounds for ministerial berths include BJP state unit President Sat Sharma, Assembly Speaker Kavinder Gupta, Sukhnandan Choudhary, Shakti Parihar, Rajesh Jasrota, and Ravinder Raina.
BJP's junior Minister Sunil Sharma is likely to be elevated to Cabinet rank.
The reshuffle was due ever since two BJP Ministers Choudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga were asked to resign due to a controversy over their participation in a Hindu Ekta Manch rally in support of the accused in the Kathua rape-murder case.
The BJP had sought and received resignations of all party Ministers in the Council of Ministers though only two were forwarded to the Chief Minister.
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Explosion near CRPF School in Delhi caused by lit cigarette butts: Report
New Delhi: The investigation team that probed the explosion that took place outside the CRPF School in the Prashant Vihar area of the city on October 20 morning has reportedly not found any terror force behind the blast.
The investigation team, consisting of Delhi Police and staff members from central agencies, has stated in its report that cigarette butts thrown by a local resident might have come in contact with industrial waste and have caused the explosion. Circumstantial evidence does not show the incident to have a terror angle to it, reports The Indian Express.
The Delhi Police, the city bomb squad and the fire brigade had rushed to the spot following the explosion, which was initially believed to have been caused by a crude bomb. The forensic experts who inspected the spot hinted at the presence of potassium chlorate, hydrogen peroxide and some electrical wires there. The school wall had been damaged and the windows of a car nearby had shattered in the explosion.
The investigation team scanned the CCTV camera footage and zeroed in on around 10 people questioned. A senior police officer said that a North Delhi-based businessman from Prashant Vihar was found to be present at the spot around five minutes before the explosion, as he had come there on Sunday morning to walk his dog. The CCTV footage showed him smoking and, after questioning him, the team concluded that he had left lit cigarette butts before leaving the spot, the officer added.
The spot where the explosion took place is learned to have been usually used for dumping garbage and also has a public urinal.
An officer has said that the Delhi Police had consulted forensic and technical experts of the National Security Guard regarding the things found on the explosion site but are yet to get the report. The officer added that they have found no detonator so far.
