HAPPY 'MARE'? Chief Minister Pramod Sawant with newly inducted ministers Digambar Kamat and Ramesh Tawadkar — a reshuffle balancing political strategy with electoral readiness.
PANAJI
By inducting former chief minister Digambar Kamat and former speaker Ramesh Tawadkar into his cabinet, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has only partly dealt with keeping everyone 'happy' despite the ruling party's 'problem of plenty' — twenty-eight MLAs of its own (including the eight Congress MLAs who defected), two of its ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) legislators and three supporting Independents.
Yet, there are many more mouths to feed, and it is in this light that Sawant's first comments after the Kamat-Tawadkar induction, hinting at future changes ahead of the 2027 election, must be seen: "Two have been inducted, but anything (ministership) can happen for anyone."
Since then, the buzz, especially in ruling party circles, is that Sawant, with the backing of the central leadership, could go in for more changes in the eighteen months before the party faces the acid test — the 2027 assembly polls.
Nonetheless, this week's rejig of his team by Sawant has, in a sense, demonstrated his and the BJP leadership's resolve to stay battle-ready and become an election-winning machine much like it does everywhere else in the rest of the country.
While many analysts are describing the cabinet shake-up as a move to buttress its 'winnability' in 2027, party insiders insist it has more to do with the exigencies of running an effective government and the two electoral battles that have to be faced much earlier — the Zilla Panchayat polls expected by the end of this year and the municipal elections next year.
Regional imbalance, focus on South
The induction of Kamat and Tawadkar in the cabinet has made its composition lopsided in terms of stakes for North and South Goa.
Earlier, the team was balanced with six ministers from each of the districts, but now, South Goa has seven — Ravi Naik, Subhash Shirodkar, Mauvin Godinho, Ramkrishna Dhavalikar, Subash Phal Dessai and the new inductees, the Kamat-Tawadkar duo.
On the other hand, North Goa will have just five — Sawant himself, Vishwajit Rane, Rohan Khaunte, Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate and Nilkanth Halarnkar.
Additionally, Sawant and the BJP are steadfastly clinging to their strategy of giving more weightage to the regions which have given the party greater electoral returns — the hinterland talukas.
Consequently, the four talukas of Bardez, Mormugao, Salcete and Tiswadi, which together account for 24 of the 40 assembly segments, have just five ministers. Bardez has two in Khaunte and Halarnkar, while Mormugao, Tiswadi and Salcete have one each in Godinho, Monserrate, and now Kamat. Pernem and Quepem remain the only two talukas with no representation in the Sawant cabinet.
The strategy is a discernible departure from the past, where cabinets were packed with politicians drawn from Salcete and Bardez — the two largest talukas in terms of political representation in the assembly.
Eye on upcoming ZP, civic polls
Time and again, the BJP in Goa has consistently followed one political doctrine — every election is important. The party has always stayed focused on winning every battle, and this hunger for electoral success is reflected in this week's cabinet rejig, with the focus clearly on the two upcoming electoral battles — Zilla Panchayat due by the end of this year and municipal elections expected in early 2026.
With the induction of Kamat and Tawadkar, the BJP will be hoping that it will hold them in good stead in the elections to two civic bodies — Margao Municipal Council and Canacona Municipal Council.
Usually, in local body elections where municipal wards have a meagre 1,000-1,500-strong electorate, the outcomes are largely influenced by who controls the local administrative machinery. Being a cabinet minister raises by several notches the level of control over the local machinery. In this context, Kamat and Tawadkar, now ministers, will help tilt the balance in favour of the saffron camp in Margao and Canacona.
But before the civic polls next year, the State will witness the crucial ZP poll by the end of this year. It is the only election that is fought on party lines apart from the assembly elections, and, in that sense, its results could be more telling on the political strengths of individual parties.
Here too, Sawant and the BJP leadership will be looking to earn political dividends from elevating Kamat and Tawadkar as ministers.
Kamat will be expected to shepherd the party's ZP election effort in the adversarial Salcete alongside BJP state president Damu Naik. Tawadkar, on the other hand, will be expected to team up with Subash Phal Dessai to ensure a saffron sweep of the ZP seats in the extreme southern region of Dharbandora-Sanguem-Quepem-Canacona, especially when these talukas are known to have sizeable chunks of tribal population.
