Days after 10 Congress MLAs in Goa joined the BJP, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant Saturday reshuffled his cabinet, dropping three members of ally Goa Forward Party (GFP) and an Independent legislator as ministers.
In addition, three of the ten Congress rebels, who joined the BJP, were sworn in as Ministers in the Goa Cabinet.
Congress rebels Chandrakant Kavlekar, Jennifer Monserrate and Filipe Nery Rodrigues were inducted in the state cabinet Saturday.
Goa Governor Mridula Sinha administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan in the afternoon.
Prior to the swearing-in, the chief minister issued a notification, dropping all three Goa Forward Party (GFP) ministers -- Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai, Water Resources Minister Vinod Palyekar, Rural Development Minister Jayesh Salgaonkar -- and Independent MLA and Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte from the cabinet to accommodate the new members.
The lone BJP minister to be sworn-in is Michael Lobo, who resigned as Deputy Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly earlier in the day.
Strengthened by their support, Sawant decided to drop the GFP, a regional party that was instrumental in forming the Manohar Parrikar-led government in 2017.
This is the second cabinet reshuffle by Sawant since he took over as the chief minister three months ago.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)
