PANJIM: Former Deputy Chief Minister and MGP legislator Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar, former Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar and Deputy Speaker Subhash Phaldesai are likely to be inducted as Cabinet Ministers on Saturday as Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will expand his Cabinet.
Despite stiff opposition by some Ministers to Dhavalikar’s induction in the Cabinet, the BJP national leadership has approved his induction in the Ministry. Three-time MLA Halarnkar had been Minister in the past while, Sanguem MLA Subhash Phaldesai will be the lone new face in the Sawant cabinet.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Phaldesai who was elected as Deputy Speaker last week will resign on Saturday morning, party sources said. However, till the time of going to the press, the BJP maintained a stoic silence on who will fill in the three vacant posts even as it was clear that there will be only one new face in the Cabinet.
Till Friday evening, speculation was rife that Dhavalikar, Curtorim Independent MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco and Sanvordem BJP MLA Ganesh Gaonkar will be inducted as Cabinet Minister during expansion. But hours later two more names from the ruling party – Phaldesai and Halarnkar – came up.
Earlier, there was much speculation that four-time MLA Lourenco would find a place in the BJP-led government but party leaders strongly lobbied for their own members to be included.
On the filling of the three vacant Cabinet berths, BJP sources said that Dhavalikar is one of the three, but the remaining two will be seen at the swearing in ceremony when they will be administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor P S Sreedharan Pillao at new Durbar Hall of Raj Bhavan at 12 noon on Saturday.
“Swearing in ceremony of Council of Ministers (expansion of Cabinet) is scheduled at 12 noon on April 9, 2022 at Durbar Hall, Raj Bhavan Dona Paula,” was the message released by the Department of Information and Publicity on Friday night. However even till then the names of the three new Ministers were not known.
The BJP that won 20 seats in the 2022 Assembly elections and received support from the MGP and three Independents soon after the declaration of results on March 10, has this time maintained secrecy over the induction. The first list of cabinet ministers was not known until their swearing in on March 28 which was held in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP’s national leaders at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium. Likewise, the allocation of portfolios was also kept under wraps until they were distributed to all cabinet Ministers on April 3.
