Pramod Sawant, ahead of oath, tweets, 'Offered prayers to almighty'; shares pics
Goa oath: Pramod Sawant considered Manohar Parrikar as his mentor.
The BJP's Pramod Sawant is set to take oath as Goa's chief minister for a second innings on Monday at a big event. Prime minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and chief ministers of several BJP-ruled states are in the huge guest list for the oath ceremony at at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Taleigao - the preparations of which Sawant himself reviewed on Sunday.
Shortly before the swearing-in on Monday morning, Sawant, 48, tweeted pictures of himself, offering prayers. "Offered prayers to the Almighty as we continue on our journey to serve the people of Goa. (sic)," he wrote in a tweet.
Sawant is said to be a protege of Manohar Parrikar, former defence minister, who had played a critical role in expanding the BJP's footprint in the state. This was the first assembly election in Goa that the BJP fought in Parrikar's absence.
Goa is also last of the five states to witness the chief minister's swearing-in event after poll results were announced on March 10. The BJP held several rounds of talks for the leadership posts in Uttarakhand, Maipur and Goa. In Uttar Pradesh, the choice was clear - Yogi Adityanath. He took oath on Friday in front of a 70,000 plus crowd. Punjab was the first state to witness the oath event where the AAP government won with a landslide majority and Bhagwant Mann took oath as the chief minister.
In Goa, the BJP won 20 of 40 seats, one short of the majority mark in the state assembly. It is set to form government with the support from the MGP, the coastal state's oldest party, which is also known to be the kingmaker. Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which fought the election with the MGP, could not make a dent in the state polls.
