Pramod Sawant to take oath as Goa CM on Mar 28

Panaji, Mar 22: Pramod Sawant will take oath as the Chief Minister of Goa on March 28 and prominent BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will attend the event.

The CM-designate on Tuesday said that the event will be held at Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee stadium on March 28 at 11 am. The oath-taking ceremony will be graced by Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union minister Nitin Gadkari and chief ministers of seven BJP-ruled states would attend the ceremony, he said.

48-year-old Sawant is an MLA from Sankhalim in North Goa. In 2017, he was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in Manohar Parrikar's government and he was made the CM in March 2019 after Parrikar's death. Sawant, an Ayurveda medical practitioner, was at the helm when the coastal state faced the COVID-19 pandemic along with other parts of the country.

The saffron party has already staked a claim to form the next government with the support of 25 MLAs. Sawant will continue as the chief minister of Goa for a second term, the BJP had announced on Monday after he was unanimously elected the legislature party head.

In the recently-held state elections, the BJP won 20 seats in the 40-member Assembly, just one short of the majority mark of 21. The saffron party will be forming the government for a third straight term with the support of two MLAs of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three Independent legislators.