PANAJI
Faces of those at Thursday's ceremony in Cabo Raj Bhavan to induct veteran Digambar Kamat and former Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar into the Pramod Sawant cabinet on Thursday bore all smiles, but not all in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation are a happy lot, it seems.
Some did not even turn up at the swearing-in, notably former ministers Govind Gaude and Michael Lobo and of course the latter's spouse Delilah.
Media reports in recent weeks had widely reported that one among the Lobo couple would make it to the cabinet in the reshuffle.
The Lobo's were part of the eight-member group of legislators which had switched over from the Congress in September 2022, barely months after a bitterly fought election.
Another member from that group of eight defecting MLAs -- Sankalp Amonkar -- turned up late at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday. He reached much after the oath-taking part of the ceremony had ended.
Amonkar is the only one from the eight MLAs who is yet to be accommodated in any government position. In the early days after their defection, the government had issued an order appointing him as chairperson of Bal Bhavan but the Mormugao MLA had refused to take charge.
Meanwhile, Sawant told the media on the sidelines of the ceremony that although two have been inducted into his team more individuals could possibly get an opportunity going forward. "Anything can happen for anyone," Sawant said.
Gaude who was dropped from the cabinet by Sawant in July also skipped the ceremony as did Aleixo Sequeira who resigned from the cabinet on Wednesday which paved the way for Thursday's swearing in of Kamat and Tawadkar.
Sequeira had been dealing with health issues for a few months but has gone on record to say that he quit for "personal reasons" and not on health grounds. He has also claimed that there was no pressure from the party for him to quit.
Another notable absentee at Raj Bhavan on Thursday was Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik.
