india

Updated: Mar 20, 2019 23:32 IST

Newly inducted Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant comfortably won a floor test in the state assembly on Wednesday, registering the support of 20 legislators to prove the majority of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.

All 12 BJP MLAs, including former minister Pandurang Madkaikar who made his first public appearance since suffering a stroke last year, supported Sawant. The BJP’s allies, the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) — which have three lawmakers each — and three independent MLAs backed the 45-year-old chief minister. The count stood at 20 since the speaker, who is from the BJP, did not vote.

“I got this opportunity to sit in this chair as a successor of late chief minister Manohar Parrikar because of the confidence you have shown in me,” Sawant told the House after the vote of confidence was passed.

A change of guard took place in Goa after 63-year-old Parrikar, the chief minister and former Union defence minister, died on Sunday. He was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Sawant was sworn in late on Monday after frenzied political developments, and his oath-taking followed long negotiations between the BJP and its allies over leadership. The Congress, which is the single largest party in the assembly, too staked claim to form the government.

The effective strength of the 40-member Goa assembly is now 36, after the death of Parrikar and former deputy chief minister Francis D’Souza , and the resignation by two others. Fourteen Congress legislators and one Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member voted against Sawant on Wednesday.

“Our coalition partners MGP, GFP and independents are with us. I had full faith in them...Now we have to work,” Sawant said. “Manohar Parrikar’s message was to be positive. If we follow his message, we can build a bright future for Goa.”

Sawant appointed Sudin Dhavalikar of the MGP and Vijai Sardesai of the GFP as deputy chief ministers “with immediate effect” as part of an agreement between the allies during their long negotiation after Parrikar’s death. The ministers have been promised that their previous portfolios will be retained, Sardesai said.

An ayurveda doctor by training, Sawant was a leader of the BJP’s youth wing and retained his seat from the Sanquelim assembly constituency in 2017. He first entered the assembly in 2012. Sawant, considered a protege of Parrikar, will lead his party during the Lok Sabha elections and four bypolls that are seen as his first big test after taking charge.

The Congress congratulated the new CM, but sounded disappointed that governor Mridula Sinha did not invite the party to form the new government .

“We give our wishes to the new CM, but she [the governor] called those in the minority to form the government. They had to perform a midnight circus and crack deals to get to the number of 20,” leader of opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said.

In 2017 too, the Congress lost out in the race to form the government despite being the single-largest party as the BJP stitched up a post-poll alliance with the MGP, GFP and the three independents.