The new Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Goa will face the floor test on Wednesday after Speaker Pramod Sawant was sworn in as chief minister in a post-midnight ceremony on Monday. Reports say that the saffron party has moved its 12 lawmakers in the state to ensure numbers during the trust vote.
The government claims majority with the support of 21 MLAs—12 from the BJP, three each of allies Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three Independents. The Congress, which is the single largest party with 14 MLAs, had also staked claim to form the government. There is also an NCP legislator in the House.
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The state plunged into a political crisis after former chief minister Manohar Parrikar died on Sunday after battling with pancreatic cancer. The strength of the 40-member House has been reduced to 36 following the death of Parrikar and BJP MLA Francis D'Souza and resignations of two Congress MLAs Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte.
“We have 21 MLAs, we will pass the floor test tomorrow. Our coalition partners are with us,” Sawant said on Tuesday.
Sawant, a two-time MLA from Sankhalim in North Goa, was sworn in at the Raj Bhavan at 1.50 am after a frenetic day of political wrangling. As per the power-sharing arrangement reached by the BJP with allies, an MLA each from the two smaller parties backing the saffron party—GFP chief Vijai Sardesai and MGP's Sudin Dhavalikar—were made deputy chief minister. It is for the first time that a tiny state like Goa has two deputy chief ministers.
Apart from the CM and his two deputies, nine other ministers—Manohar Azgaonkar, Rohan Khaunte, Govind Gaude, Vinod Palienkar, Jayesh Salgaonkar, Mauvin Godinho, Vishwajit Rane, Milind Naik and Nilesh Cabral—were also sworn in on Monday.
With inputs from PTI