Goa gets two deputy chief ministers

Pramod Sawant in his office after taking charge as Chief Minister on March 19.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Goa once again beat the Congress when it came to forming the government following the passing away of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on March 17. While the Congress met the Governor and tried to stake its claim on the grounds that it had the majority in the House, the BJP outwitted the Congress by offering a sweet deal to the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), both allies, and independents.

The situation that emerged on March 18 and that Governor Mridula Sinha accepted was the following: Pramod Sawant of the BJP, until now Assembly Speaker, will be the Chief minister and Sudin Dhavlikar from the MGP and Vijay Sardesai from GFP will be Deputy Chief Ministers. Why a small State like Goa, with a 40-member Legislative Assembly needs two deputy chief ministers is anyone’s guess.

The allies obviously had the upper hand on the issue of government formation with the BJP. Both Sudin Dhavlikar and Vijay Sardesai teamed up with the BJP in 2017 on the condition that Parrikar would be the Chief Minister. In 2017, the BJP won 12 seats, the MGP three and the GFP three. The Congress won 14 seats and Independents three. Unfortunately, a spat between Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro and Sardesai resulted in the Congress losing out on a chance to make a deal with the GFP. The BJP was quick to seize the opportunity to stitch together a coalition with the MGP, which has always leaned right, and the GFP to stake claim successfully to form the government.

Ever since Parrikar fell ill and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the political situation in Goa has been marked by instability, made worse by the death of a BJP MLA, Francis D’Souza, and the resignation of two Congress MLAs, Subash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte, who joined the BJP. Following Parrikar’s death, there are four vacancies in the Assembly.

A senior leader in the Congress said both the Congress and the BJP feared that if a government was not formed the Assembly would be placed in suspended animation until the general election was over.

However, that did not happen, with the Governor swearing in the new Chief Minister at 2 a.m. on March 19.The GFP wangled for itself two ministerial positions, its candidates being Vinod Palyekar and Jayesh Salgoankar, while the MGP’s Manohar Ajgoankar (MGP) and an Independent, Rohan Khavtye, too got Cabinet berths. All of them were sworn in along with four BJP MLAs, Mauvin Godinho, Vishwajit Rane, Milind Naik and Nilesh Cabral, in the pre-dawn ceremony.

Pramod Sawant, an Ayurvedic doctor, was one of Parrikar’s favourites and has represented the Sanquelim constituency twice. Goa has two Lok Sabha seats. The BJP was counting on Parrikar to retain them. Sawant’s first challenge will be to win these seats for the party. That will help him establish his position in the party and bring an end, at least for the time being, to powers struggles that have been a feature of Goa’s politics for some time.