Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin will not be attending the swearing-in of Omar Abdullah as chief minister of  Jammu and Kashmir owing to the IMD issuing a ‘red alert’ due to the northeast monsoon, the state government said on Tuesday.

A ‘red alert’ indicates heavy to extremely heavy rain of over 20 cm in 24 hours.

DMK MP Kanimozhi will represent the party at the swearing-in ceremony on October 16.

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president Farooq Abdullah called up the Tamil Nadu chief minister and invited him for the swearing-in of his son and JKNC vice president Omar Abdullah as chief minister, an official release here said.

But Stalin conveyed his inability to attend in person as the IMD had forecast a ‘red alert’ due to the northeast monsoon in the state, and that he was engaged in precautionary work, the release said.

He had told Farooq Abdullah that DMK MP and party’s parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi would represent the party at the swearing-in ceremony, the release added.

The National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in the maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. In the 90-member Assembly, the National Conference won 42 seats, BJP 29, Congress 6, PDP 3 and the rest of the constituencies were won by others, including independents (7).