Panaji, Mar 21 (IANS): With the support of three independent MLAs and a two-member Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) legislators, leader of the BJP's 20-member legislature party Pramod Sawant on Monday staked claim to form the government in Goa.

Sawant submitted the party's resolution electing him as a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislative party to Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai, along with letters of support from the three independent MLAs and the MGP legislative party leader Sudin Dhavalikar.

Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai appointed Sawant as the Chief Minister.

Sawant, 48, has previously held the post of Chief Minister from 2019-2022 and was serving as caretaker Chief Minister of the state.

Sawant's candidature was endorsed earlier on Monday at a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party's 20-member legislature party in the presence of Union Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar, an emissary of the BJP's central parliamentary board and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is the party's in-charge of poll-related affairs.

Tomar made the formal announcement of Pramod Sawant's appointment as the leader of the BJP legislative party.