india

Updated: Apr 24, 2020 17:11 IST

The BJP-led government in Goa proved its majority on Wednesday winning the floor test in the state assembly. The Pramod Sawant government got the support of 20 MLAs in the assembly, whose strength has reduced from 40 to 36.

Among those who voted in the floor test include ailing BJP MLA Pandurang Madkaikar, who made it to the assembly. He had suffered a stroke in June last year. This was his first public appearance since then.

The floor test was overseen by acting Speaker and Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Michael Lobo.

This comes a day after Pramod Sawant resigned from the post of Goa Assembly Speaker to swear in as the chief minister in a past-midnight oath taking ceremony. Two deputy chief ministers were made under the new power-sharing arrangement between the Bharatiya Janata Party and its alliance partners.

The BJP is in alliance with the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) while three Independent MLAs are extending support to the government.

The BJP has 12 MLAs in Goa Assembly while the GFP and MGP have three each. Three Independent MLAs are also part of the ruling alliance.

GFP chief Vijai Sardesai and MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar are the two deputy chief ministers in Goa. This is the first instance that Goa has two deputy chief ministers.

The strength of Goa Assembly fell by four following the death of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and BJP MLA Francis D’Souza, and resignations of two Congress legislators Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte.

The Congress is the single-largest party in Goa Assembly with 14 MLAs. The party had staked claim to form government in Goa. However, hectic parleys by BJP president Amit Shah and Union minister Nitin Gadkari with the GFP and MGP leaders ensured that the ruling party retained power in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha election.

Along with Chief Minister Sawant and his deputies Sardesai and Dhavlikar, nine other ministers took oath. They are BJP leaders Mauvin Godinho, Vishwajit Rane, Milind Naik and Nilesh Cabral, GFP MLAs Palekar and Jayesh Salgaonkar and MGP legislator Manohar Ajgaonkar (MGP).

Independent MLAs Rohan Khaunte and Govind Gawade were also sworn in as ministers in the Sawant cabinet.

The BJP’s decision to appoint Sawant, 45, as the chief minister of Goa signals a generational shift in the state. Sawant, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is an ayurveda practitioner and was groomed by Maohar Parrikar, who died on Sunday after battling pancreatic cancer for more than a year.

Before the floor test was taken up in Goa assembly, the House moved condolence motion to mourn the passing away of Parrikar, former Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza and former Deputy Speaker Vishnu Wagh, who died on February 8 in South Africa after a prolonged illness.