Ahead of cabinet reshuffle, Goa CM seeks resignations of four ministers

Panaji, July 12: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has asked three MLAs of the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and independent lawmaker Rohan Khaunte to resign from his ministry as he would be inducting four new ministers on Saturday.

The move comes days after a group of10 Congress MLAs in Goa led by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Chandrakant Kavlekar merged with the ruling BJP on Wednesday.

"I have asked three GFP ministers and Khaunte to resign from the cabinet. I have given them the instructions as per the orders from my high command," Sawant said. "I will be inducting four new ministers tomorrow."

The three GFP ministers who have been asked to resign are Vijai Sardesai, Vinod Palyekar, and Jayesh Salgaonkar and the Independent MLA is Rohan Khaunte.

The Goa Forward Party, which is part of the NDA faction and is in coalition with the BJP-led state government, however, denied official communication from the central leadership and said "appropriate steps will be taken only after taking with NDA leadership at the Centre."

"We haven't received any official communication from BJP central leaders. Our party is part of NDA, joined BJP led state government after talks with the national leadership. The present state BJP leaders were not part of the discussion," it added.

The GFP lent support to the BJP to form government in 2017 under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar, and again in March 2019 when Sawant took over following Parrikar's death.