Express News Service
MUMBAI: Pramod Sawant on Monday took oath as Goa chief minister for the second term. Interestingly, his cabinet is dominated by defectors. Out of the eight ministers sworn in, including the chief minister, only two are originally from the BJP.
The eight cabinet ministers sworn in by Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai are Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane, Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho, Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral, Ponda MLA Ravi Naik, Shiroda MLA Subhash Shirodkar, Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte, Priol MLA Govind Gaude, and Panaji MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate.
The defectors include former Congress veteran Ravi Naik who switched over to the BJP ahead of the polls in December 2021. Another former Congressman to be included in the Sawant ministry, Attanasio (Babus) Monserrate, had joined the BJP in July 2019 and was instrumental in engineering the defections of nine other Congress MLAs to the BJP. Besides, another minister Rohan Khaunte was elected independent in 2017 and joined BJP ahead of the 2022 state polls.
Vishwajit Rane, one of the chief minister aspirants, was with the Congress and is the son of former Congress CM Pratap Singh Rane. He left the Congress in 2017 after the party failed to form the government and joined the BJP. Rane also took an oath on Monday.
Subhash Shirodkar was with the Congress and had served in the cabinets of Pratapsingh Rane and Luizinho Faleiro. Mauvin Godinho was in the Congress and joined the BJP in 2010. Govind Gaude, who switched ober from the Congress in 2017, also took oath as cabinet minister.
PM Narendra Modi, Union minister Nitin Gadkari, BJP chief J P Nadda and Maharashtra ex-CM Devendra Fadanavis, who was the Goa election in-charge, were among those who attended the oath-taking.
BJP denies berth to independentsBJP did not induct any independent ministers even though two of them extended their unconditional support to the BJP. The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party had also extended support but none inducted
