Floor test for Sawant govt in Goa today

Panaji: The BJP-led government in Goa will face a floor test on Wednesay, a day after it was formed. Governor Mridula Sinha has convened a special session of the Assembly at 11.30 am on Wednesday to enable chief minister Pramod Sawant to prove his majority in the House, an official said.

Mr Sawant said on Tuesday that his government had sought a floor test on Wednesday to prove its strength in the Assembly.

The BJP-led government in the coastal state claims 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 strength of the 40-member House has been reduced to 36 due to the deaths of chief minister Manohar Parrikar and BJP MLA Francis D’Souza, and the resignations of two Congress MLAs, Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte. The Congress is the single largest party in the state with 14 MLAs. There is also an NCP legislator in the House.

Mr Sawant, 45, who was sworn in along with 11 other ministers in a ceremony sortly before 2 am on Tuesday, succeeded Mr Parrikar, who died on Sunday after battling pa-ncreatic cancer. He said his priority was to complete the projects undertaken by Mr Parrikar.

The state government will build a memorial in Parrikar’s name at Panaji’s Miramar Beach, where he was cremated, he added.

Mr Sawant exuded confidence that the BJP-led alliance will remain intact, adding that the BJP’s allies were backing him. “I will try to ensure that the alliance remains intact. I will deal with people the way Parrikar used to,” he said.

Mr Sawant said the ministers sworn in along with him would be allocated portfolios soon, and expressed confidence that his government will complete its tenure.

Mr Sawant was sworn in as the new chief minister early on Tuesday, after hectic parleys between the saffron party and its allies to put a new government in place in the state. The governor also administered the oath to 11 other ministers, including those from the BJP’s allies MGP and GFP. As per the power-sharing arrangement reached with the allies, an MLA each from the two smaller parties backing the BJP will be made deputy chief minister, party sources said. They are GFP chief Vijai Sardesai and MGP legislator Sudin Dhavalikar.

After multiple postponements of the oath ceremony on Monday evening, Mr Sawant, a legislator from Sankhalim in North Goa, was sworn in as CM at Raj Bhavan at 1.50 am. BJP president Amit Shah and Union minister Nitin Gadkari played behind-the-scenes roles in ensuring the party retained power in Goa, after the death of Parrikar, sources said. The impasse over the government’s formation, which included dealing with stubborn allies trying to extract their pound of flesh, was resolved with deft handling of the situation by the two senior BJP leaders, party sources said Tuesday.