Following the death of Manohar Parrikar on Sunday, Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant has been chosen as the new chief minister of Goa
Panaji: Speaker Pramod Sawant has been chosen as the new chief minister of Goa, following the death of Manohar Parrikar on Sunday.
According to reports, Sawant will be sworn in on Monday night. There are also reports that MGP's Sudin Dhavalikar and GFP's Vijay Sardesai will be the two deputy chief ministers. However, official confirmation of the same is awaited.
In the 36-member state Legislative Assembly, Congress has 14 MLAs and the BJP 12. However, after the death of Parrikar due to cancer, the BJP still holds the majority with an alliance of three members from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), three from Goa Forward Party (GFP) and another three independents. The BJP-led alliance has 20 MLAs.
Meanwhile, the Congress had met the governor Mridula Sinha to stake claim to form the government as they are the single largest party in Goa.
There were reports that BJP’s alliance partners MGP and GFP were not happy with Swant's selection as chief minister.
Sawant represents the Sanquelim constituency and is an ayurveda practitioner. Sawant holds a bachelor’s degree in ayurveda, medicine and surgery from the Ganga Education Society's Ayurvedic Medical College in Kolhapur and a postgraduate degree of social work from the Tilak Maharashtra University in Pune.
Sawant's wife Sulakshana is a Chemistry teacher by profession and is also the president of the Goa unit of the BJP Mahila Morcha.
On Monday, Parrikar was cremated at the Miramar beach in Panaji with full state honours.
The other names that were doing the rounds for chief minister's position are health minister Vishwajit Rane, MGP chief Dhavalikar and Vinay Tendulkar.
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