PANAJI
The over two-month long lull after the mid-September political storm is nearing its end with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant saying some of Congress entrants will be inducted "soon" into his Cabinet soon and others allotted State-owned Corporations.
"The MLAs have switched from the Congress and joined our party because of faith in our Central leaders and in Pramod Sawant," the chief minister said in an exclusive interaction with TV news outlet Goan Varta Live telecast on Friday.
"If they have to be given some responsibility we will think over it in the course of time and allocate ministerial berths, Corporations...." he said.
During the course of the interview, Sawant denied there was any difference of opinion among his Cabinet team on the issue of routing all future government recruitment to non-executive and non-gazetted posts through the Goa Staff Selection Commission (GSSC).
"Constituting the Staff Selection Commission was a decision that was taken by the Cabinet itself so there is no question of any differences on it," Sawant said.
He said all the requirements including office are being made available and the Commission will be fully functional by January.
"The question of ministers being upset with the decision does not arise. The government is firm on the Commission," Sawant said, adding that it will start recruitment processes in January.
Media reports had suggested that some ministers were upset and were planning to confront Sawant soon after he made the "100% recruitment through GSSC" announcement while inaugurating a mega Job Fair in Taleigao.
Large-scale recruitment in the months preceding the Assembly elections was a major issue that dominated the election campaign as Opposition parties accused the then Sawant-led government and ruling BJP of perpetrating a jobs-for-votes scam.
The recruitments were done by individual departments with ministers holding those portfolios exercising influence over the bureaucrats conducting the process.
The GSSC Act was enacted by the previous Sawant-led government back in 2019 but it also later in January 2021 amended the law to empower the State government to permit government departments to conduct recruitment processes directly.
Some of those recruitments have been challenged and are currently under adjudication before the Bombay High Court at Goa.
Sawant in his interview on Friday meanwhile reassured that there was no difference or dissent over the issue of routing all recruitment through the GSSC in his team of ministers.
Sawant's comments on inducting Congress entrants as ministers in his team, meanwhile, has the potential of mudding the political waters.
Cabinet vacancies will first have to be created by removing incumbents from the Cabinet to accommodate the Congress entrants which could pose some discomfiture for Sawant given that the ruling coalition is politically top-heavy.
It also confirms, as has always been the case with past party-hopping episodes in Goa, that the mid-September split and merger of eight Congress MLAs with the ruling party involved trade of political office the 'unconditional merger' claims made by both sides then, notwithstanding.
On September 14 last, eight MLAs, including the then Opposition Leader Michael Lobo and former chief minister Digambar Kamat 'split' the Congress and 'merged with the ruling BJP.
The others included Aleixo Sequeira, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Phaldesai, Rudolf Fernandes and Sankalp Amonkar.
