CANACONA
Once estranged and present Vice-President of Goa State Bharatiya Janata Party, Former Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar has been appointed as Chairperson of Goa Commission for Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes.
The order to this effect was issued on Wednesday by the government under Department of Tribal Welfare signed by Director and Ex-Officio Jt Secretary (TW) Sandhya Kamat on Wednesday, appointing Tawadkar for a period of three years with immediate effect.
Tawadkar, a three-time BJP MLA from Canacona (twice representing Poinguinim) and turning out strongly in the delimited Canacona constituency in 2012 assembly elections, was soon inducted into the Cabinet of Manohar Parrikar holding three important ministries including Sports.
Stating injustice to him, Tawadkar, however, resigned from the Cabinet and the BJP party on the eve of 2017 assembly polls, after the party denied him a ticket to contest the elections. As a rebellion, Tawadkar went on to contest the elections as an independent candidate against BJP candidate Vijay Poi Khot and came a poor third with Congress candidate Isidore Fernandes winning Canacona.
Though Tawadkar and BJP Poi Khot lost, Tawadkar later claimed moral victory by defeating the BJP candidate.
According to sources, there were a few other names, including that of a former minister from the South, which came up for the chairmanship of GCSCST for the past few days, while the government finally decided and appointed Tawadkar on Wednesday.
Tawadkar, however, did not respond to the calls on his mobile made to seek his reaction on his appointment.
