PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will accompany all the eight Congress entrants to Delhi shortly specifically to meet the Bharatiya Janata Party's central leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and National president, J P Nadda.
Sawant told the media on Thursday that no date has been fixed yet for the Delhi visit but it will happen "very soon".
Although the chief minister has ruled out any cabinet reshuffle now, his visit to Raj Bhavan to meet Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai stirred up speculation.
Sawant on his part dismissed media speculation over replacing three ministers in the cabinet by inducting the new entrants and said his meeting with Sreedharan was a routine one.
"It was a scheduled meeting to discuss a programme to be held on September 17 (PMs Birthday). Not related to politics," Sawant told the media after the meeting with Pillai.
On Wednesday, the long speculated 'operation kamal' was finally executed with Sawant and BJP State president, Sadanand Tanavade, formally inducting eight Congress MLAs into the party.
The eight MLAs who split the Opposition Congress and then 'merged' with the BJP are: Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Sequeira, Michael Lobo, Sankalp Amonkar, Kedar Naik, Rudolf Fernandes, Rajesh Phaldesai and Delilah Lobo.
The development has triggered intense speculation with media reports suggesting that Kamat, Sequeira and Lobo have been assured cabinet berths.
Induction of ministers in the cabinet, past history indicates, is a corollary of every instance of political defections in Goa.
For the record, Sawant as well as the eight defecting MLAs have said that there were no demands or assurances and the split and merger into the BJP was "unconditional".
