137. Dr. Farooq Abdullah

Born	21 October 1937 (1937-10-21) (age 73) Srinagar, Kashmi, British India

Political party	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Incumbent

Assumed office  28 May 2009

Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir

In office 8 September 1982 – 2 July 1984

               In office07 November 1986 – 19 January 1990

                In office9 October 1996 – 18 October 2002

Farooq Abdullah (Kashmiri: फ़ारूक़ अब्दुल्लाह , فاروق عبدالله ), born 21 October 1937 in Soura, Jammu & Kashmir, India), is the son of Sheikh Abdullah, is a doctor of medicine and has served as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions since 1982. He is married to Molly, a nurse of British origin. Their son, Omar Abdullah is also involved in state and national politics, and has been a member of the Lok Sabha and is the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Omar Abdullah (R), Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister with his father and Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah (C) paying floral tribute to former Chief Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on his 28th death anniversary at Hazratbal in Srinagar.

Swearing-in-Ceremony: National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah along with his son and Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, daughter-in-law Payal and grand sons partake in the swearing-in-ceremony of Union Council of Ministers, at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi

Picture shows (From L to R) H N Bahuguna, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Dr Farooq Abdullah, L K Advani, N T Rama Rao and others at a meeting in Bombay

Swearing-in-Ceremony: President of India Mrs Pratibha Patil administering the oath of office and secrecy to Farooq Abdullah as Cabinet Minister in Union Council of Ministers during a glittering swearing-in-ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah (right) addresses the Congress (I) session as Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi waves at the audience, in Aurangabad

Abdullah was a novice in the political arena of Jammu and Kashmir when he was appointed president of the National Confer in August, 1981. His main qualification was that he was the son and heir of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference leader Sheikh Abdullah. After his father's death in 1982, Farooq Abdullah became the Chief Minister of the state. In 1984, the Abdullah government was dismissed by the Governor and replaced with a pro-Congress government under Ghulam Mohammad Shah. In 1986, that government was dismissed and a new National Conference–Congress government was sworn in with Abdullah as the Chief Minister. A new election was held in 1987 and the National Conference–Congress alliance won the election amid allegations of fraud. This period saw a rise in militancy in the state, with the return of trained militants from Pakistan and incidents that included the kidnapping of the daughter of the Union Home Minister. Subsequently, the Abdullah government was dismissed once again and the state was brought under President's rule. In 1996, Abdullah was once again sworn in as Chief Minister of the state, his fifth time.
In 2002, Abdullah was elected to Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir for his first six year term. He was subsequently re-elected in 2009. Abdullah joined the United Progressive Alliance government as a Cabinet Minister.

Source : Wikipedia