By Marcellus D’Souza
Apr 8: The Swearing in of the 3 ministers to fill the quota of 12 ministers in the Goa Cabinet is likely to take place on Saturday (9/4/2022) at the Carbo Raj Bhavan.
The Pramod Sawant government on taking office on March 28, 2022, for the second time as chief minister had sworn in 8 ministers including Vishwajit Rane, Mauvin Godhino and Ravi Naik amongst others in the 40-member assembly. These ministers were allocated their respective portfolios too.
The oath of office shall be administered by Governor P. S. Sreedharan Pillai.
Sudin Dhavalikar is likely to be sworn in as Cabinet minister. Another berth will be filled by a BJP MLA while the third position is still unknown.
The name of former chief minister and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat continues to do the rounds. He is rumoured to be in touch with top BJP leadership. His recently visit to New Delhi purportedly for the ‘marriage of a close relative’ has fanned the rumour mill. Though Kamat has denied the rumour, and so has the BJP official spokesperson, the rumour continues to fan speculation in Goa. It was the centre of discussion at the Foundation Day or Sthapana Divas as well.
Digambar Kamat started his political career in the Congress and flirted with the BJP for a brief period in 1994 when he joined the Coalition government. However in 2005 he returned to the Congress and has remained a steadfast supporter of the grand old party. On April 1, 2022, Congress President Sonia Gandhi appointed Kamat as “permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) with immediate effect”. The CWC is the highest body in the 137-year-old party.
Sudein Dhavlikar of the MGP had offered “unconditional” support to the Pramod Sawant government and had presented the ‘letter of support’ to the Governor of Goa in a deal cut by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The MGP had won 2 seats in the recently concluded assembly elections. The other MLA from MGP is Jit Vinayak Arolkar.
Sudein Dhavlikar is a former Deputy Chief Minister and a a six-term member of the Goa Legislative Assembly, representing the Marcaim constituency.
The other BJP name doing the rounds is that of Ulhas Tuenkar of Navelim. Tuemkar turned out to be a dark horse in Navelim constituency and defeated his nearest rival TMC’s Valanka Alemao by 430 votes.