PANAJI:
Putting an end to all speculations, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant today dropped Minister Govind Gaude from his cabinet following his "corruption" remark against the government
This is the second time that Sawant has dropped a cabinet minister in his first full term as the chief minister, after assuming the post in 2022. In November 2023, Sawant had dropped Nilesh Cabral as the PWD minister.
Chief Minister's Office confirmed the development. However, Gaude said that he is not aware about any such decision. "I am not aware," he reacted.When contacted, BJP Goa Chief Damodar Naik said that decision to drop Gaude was "unanimous" and "long overdue".
"This was an unanimous decision of the Chief Minister and party. It was long overdue," Naik told The Goan.
During a Tribal event last month, Gaude had publicly pointed out corruption in the tribal welfare department, which is under the Chief Minister.
Gaude, who was first elected as an independent MLA in 2017, became a first-time minister in former chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s cabinet. He continued as a minister in Sawant’s cabinet after the death of Parrikar in 2019.
In Jan 2022, Gaude resigned from Sawant’s cabinet and as an independent MLA to join BJP. After joining BJP, he was allotted a party ticket to contest the 2022 assembly election from Priol constituency. After he won the election, Sawant retained him in his cabinet.
