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Goa: Sawant takes oath for second Goa term; 8 ministers sworn in
Sawant (48), who had led the BJP to win 20 seats in the recent elections to the 40-member legislative assembly, and eight other legislators were administered the oath by Goa governor PS Sreedharan.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Sawant was sworn in as chief minister of Goa for the second time on Monday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries.
Sawant (48), who had led the BJP to win 20 seats in the recent elections to the 40-member legislative assembly, and eight other party legislators were administered the oath of office by Goa governor PS Sreedharan in a packed ceremony at Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee stadium at Nambolim near the state capital.
“The BJP had declared me as a CM (candidate) and I am thankful to the central leadership for giving me another opportunity,” Sawant, a three-term MLA,told reporters after taking oath as the CM for the second time.
Besides Modi, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Shripad Naik, BJP national president JP Nadda, Himachal Pradesh governor Rajendra Arlekar, who hails from Goa, and Maharashtra’s former chief minister Devendra Fadanavis, who was the BJP’s Goa election in-charge, also attended the event.
Chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, including Pushkar Singh Dhami from Uttarakhand, Basavaraj Bommai from Karnataka, and Himanta Biswa Sarma from Assam, were also present on the occasion.
Sawant, who for long had the tag of being an “accidental” chief minister, having been chosen to lead the state after the demise of former chief minister Manohar Parrikar, on Monday said: “I am not an accidental chief minister. I am not selected but elected.”
Besides Sawant, the others sworn in included Vishwajit Rane, Mauvin Godinho, Ravi Naik, Nilesh Cabral, Subhash Shirodkar, Rohan Khaunte, Govind Gaude and Atanasio Monserratte.
Rane, Godinho, Cabral and Gaude were part of the Sawant-led cabinet from 2019-22, while Khaunte was a minister in the Parrikar-headed government, but was dropped from the cabinet in 2019.
Speaking to reporters after the swearing-in ceremony, Sawant said among his priorities would be to take forward Modi’s vision for Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) through its local adaptation, Swayampurna Goa.
“The mission Swayampurna Goa 2.0 has started. We had focussed on infrastructure development and human development. I hope the Centre will support us even more,” he said.
The BJP won 20 seats in the recently concluded assembly elections, results of which were announced on March 10, falling short of majority by one seat. Three independent legislators and two MLAs of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) have extended support to the BJP.
With Monday’s swearing-in ceremony, nine cabinet berths have been filled. Besides the chief minister, the Goa cabinet can have 11 ministers. The remaining three slots are expected to go to the independent and MGP legislators.
While there was no clarity on the allotment of portfolios in the new cabinet, the new ministers said they would leave it to the discretion of the chief minister.
“I was a minister for the past three years, and I intend to take forward the work I have been doing. Whatever portfolio I am allotted, I will take the work forward,” said Cabral, who was the power and environment minister in the previous cabinet.
The cabinet includes three Catholic faces — Godinho, Cabral and Monserrate, while Ravi Naik was the lone face from the coastal state’s numerically significant Bhandari community.
Union home minister Amit Shah, was not present at the function, extended good wishes to Sawant and his team.
“Congratulations to @DrPramodPSawant and all those who took oath to serve Goa. I am sure that this team under the guidance of PM @narendramodi Ji will work tirelessly to fulfil the aspirations of the people of Goa and take the state to the newer heights of progress,” Shah tweeted.
