Goa, India (CU)_ Pramod Sawant was sworn in as Goa’s Chief Minister for the second term in a row at a massive swearing-in event organized at the Dr Shyamaprasad Mukherjee stadium in Taleigao. In the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP officials, eight more MLAs were also sworn in as Cabinet Ministers. The CM and eight MLAs, namely Vishwajit Rane, Mauvin Godinho, Nilesh Cabral, Ravi Naik, Subhash Shirodkar, Govind Gaude, and Rohan Khaunte, were sworn in by Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai in a stadium with nearly 10,000 people.
While Cabinet positions have not yet been confirmed, the all-male group of ministers includes four members of the former administration: Rane, Godinho, Cabral, and Gaude. Former Chief Minister Ravi Naik, ex-Minister Rohan Khaunte, and Panaji MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate are among the newcomers. Jennifer Monserrate, his wife and Taleigao MLA, served as a minister in the former government.
Sawant and Rane both belong to the Maratha community, and Naik is a prominent member of the Bhandari caste, which constitutes most of the Hindus in Goa. Additionally, Godinho, Cabral, and Monserrate are Catholics; Gaude is ST; and Khaunte is a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin (GSB). Naik had defected from the Congress and entered the BJP in the race to the recent elections. Khaunte and Gaude, who served in the last Assembly as independent MLAs, had joined the saffron party prior to the elections.
The enormous crowd clapped for the BJP officials on stage in the midst of Jai Shri Ram chanting, drumming, and the tootari. Prime Minister Modi was in attendance. The other leaders who were present at the event were BJP national president J P Nadda; Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Narendra Singh Tomar; Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Alrekar; and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai, and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The BJP secured Goa’s 20 out of 40 seats. Sawant established the administration with the backing of three independent MLAs and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) following the demise of former defense minister and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in 2019.
