PANAJI
Goa State BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP, Sadanand Shet Tanavade on Saturday said that a reshuffle of the Pramod Sawant-led Cabinet has not been planned for now but it will eventually happen sometime later.
Tanavade's comments to media on Saturday come amidst reports suggesting that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will opt for a major reshuffle of his Cabinet soon, possibly in the current month itself.
Tanavade said the Cabinet reshuffle is not likely "now".
“Cabinet reshuffle will happen sometime or the other, but not now,” he said.
A Cabinet reshuffle has been on the cards for several months with some reports suggesting that Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar is likely to make it to the team. Former chief minister Digambar Kamat is another heavyweight being considered for a berth in the Cabinet, the reports suggest citing sources in the BJP.
Sawant had last tweaked his team more than a year back in November last year when he replaced former PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral with Law Minister, Aleixo Sequeira. The latter is one of the eight Congress MLAs who jumped ship and defected to the ruling BJP in September 2022, less than six months after the Assembly elections.
With Sequeira in the Cabinet, Kamat and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo are the only two of the eight defectors who are yet to get any position in the government.
