Late on Friday, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that his cabinet was likely to be reshuffled on Saturday, with four ministers to be replaced and the new ministers to be sworn in at 3 pm. The move followed Wednesday’s switch of 10 Congress MLAs to the BJP, which took the ruling party’s strength in the House to 27.

Who goes, who comes in

Sawant said the three ministers from coalition partner Goa Forward Party and independent MLA Rohan Khaunte would be dropped. He did not name the incoming ministers but said all four would be from the BJP, three of them from among the legislators who joined on Wednesday. Speculation centred on Philip Nery Rodrigues, Atanasio Monserratte and former opposition leader Chandrakant Kavlekar, along with Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo.

Asked why allies were being dropped, Sawant said the decision followed instructions from the party’s central leadership. “We have taken this decision to give good governance to the people,” he said, declining to elaborate.

This would be Sawant’s second reshuffle since he became Chief Minister three months ago. In the first, he dropped then deputy chief minister Sudin Dhavalikar and brought in Deepak Pauskar, a breakaway MLA of the MGP.

Goa Forward’s response

GFP chief and Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai said earlier in the day that he hoped the crisis would be resolved amicably. He said his party was part of the NDA and had joined the BJP-led government after talks with the BJP’s national leadership, in which the present state BJP leaders had not taken part, so it would act only after speaking to the NDA leadership at the Centre. He said the party had received no official word from the BJP and had instead been given signals that the matter would be settled amicably.

Background

On Wednesday, Kavlekar led ten of the 15 Congress MLAs into the BJP. While they and Lobo returned from Delhi, Sawant remained in Delhi for a high-level meeting that Friday evening on Goa’s mining industry, which has been at a standstill since a Supreme Court order in February 2018.

See also: Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Goa MLAs.

Originally published on 13 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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