PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant gave finishing touches to his cabinet on Saturday inducting three more ministers -- Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Nilkanth Halarnkar and Subhash Phaldessai of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The trio were sworn-in at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday morning by Governor PS Shreedharan Pillai and they took the oath in Marathi.
Interestingly, the choice of the inductees surprised many as Sawant has left out Independents -- Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco and Bicholim MLA Dr Chandrakant Shetye -- who were earlier tipped to be made ministers.
While Dhavalikar was more-or-less certain of bagging a berth after the deal was sealed by the party High Command, the induction of Halarnkar and Phaldessai was the surprise.
In fact, Phaldessai had already been 'accommodated' when he was elected the Deputy Speaker of the Goa legislative assembly last week. But the sudden decision to include him in the Cabinet saw the Sanguem MLA tendering his resignation as Deputy Speaker on Saturday morning hours before the swearing in ceremony at the Raj Bhavan.
Sawant had been sworn-in Chief Minster on March 28 along with eight other ministers at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP bigwigs including chief ministers of other States.
With Saturday's Cabinet expansion exercise, Dhavalikar becomes the lone non-BJP member of the team. It also leaves the all-important Salcete taluka, which accounts for eight assembly segments unrepresented in Cabinet, perhaps for the first time in recent history.
Sawant meanwhile said, the new ministers will be allocated portfolios after a few days.
"The Cabinet is now complete. It might take some time to allocate portfolios," Sawant told the media after the swearing-in ceremony. He also said that the previous batch of ministers were allocated portfolios five days after they took oath and this time it could take more time.
Political analysts believe the compulsion for the BJP to accommodate Dhavalikar arises from the fact that the support of the MGP is important in the Lok Sabha elections due in 2024.
In 2019, the BJP conceded the South Goa seat to the Congress with its sitting MP Narendra Sawaikar, losing narrowly to the current incumbent Francisco Sardinha and the cause of it was largely attributed to Dhavalikar's open support to the latter.
The Lok Sabha tally in Dhavalikar's Marcaim segment, which usually gave the BJP massive leads, got reversed and Sardinha romped home to victory with a margin which tallied with the lead he got there.
Meanwhile Dhavalikar, who had faced stiff resistance from several local leaders of the BJP, claimed that all discussions and decisions regarding MGP extending support to the BJP government in Goa had taken place with the saffron party's central leadership prior to the results.
