PANAJI
With the arrival of BJP national general secretary B L Santosh to Goa, just few days after BJP Goa unit put the ball in the court of high command on Minister Govind Gaude, speculations are mounting over a possible reshuffle of the State Cabinet.
Santosh landed in Goa on Thursday late evening and is scheduled to hold a series of meetings with BJP ministers, MLAs, and party functionaries starting Friday.
The party has remained tight-lipped over his arrival, however, sources claim that the visit is over likely changes the State Cabinet will witness in the coming days.
Last Thursday, BJP President Damodar Naik held a meeting with Art and Culture Minister Gaude and said that the final decision on the Minister's exit will be taken by high command.
Gaude, who had joined BJP in January 2022 -- just a month before the State Assembly elections, has been on party’s radar for his charge against the government of corruption and malfeasance. He had lashed out at the Tribal Welfare Department, which is under the Chief Minister himself.
The allegation came as a major embarrassment to CM Pramod Sawant and his government.
As reported earlier, while the Chief Minister is clear on dropping Gaude from his cabinet, the latter has reportedly said that he will comply only with an order from the High Command.
Incidentally, a reshuffle of the Sawant cabinet has been long overdue and it is expected anytime soon. Though the cabinet changes, initially, were to accommodate congress turncoats, some loyal BJP MLAs may also get a chance.
As per speculations, Gaude will be asked to resign and an MLA from tribal community would be sworn in shortly. However there is no clarity whether it would be Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar or Sanvordem MLA Ganesh Gaonkar.
Two more Ministers may be replaced with Congress rebels.
