Following the demise of secular RSS man and Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, 46-year-old BJP MLA Dr Pramod Sawant, in the wee hours of Tuesday, March 19, took oath to become the new CM of the coastal state.
Parrikar succumbed to pancreatic cancer at age 63 on Sunday, March 17.
A staunch Parrikar supporter and an Ayurveda practitioner, Sawant reportedly reached the Raj Bhavan in Panaji at 2 am on Tuesday to stake a claim to form the government.
Mourning the loss of Parrikar’s guidance and able administration, Sawant and his cabinet of 111 members took oath early Tuesday in a hasty ceremony, giving Goa its new chief minister and a functional cabinet before the Congress could move in to wrest power from the BJP-led coalition.
Who is Pramod Sawant?
Hailing from the Kotambi village, Pramod Sawant holds a bachelor’s degree in Ayurveda, Medicine, and Surgery from Ganga Education Society’s Ayurvedic College in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra.
A dedicated RSS worker since his childhood, Sawant began his political career in the BJP as a youth wing leader and contested and won from his constituency in Sanquelim, North Goa, twice in 2012 and 2017. Sanquelim used to be a Congress stronghold prior to this.
His wife, Sulakshana Sawant, is a teacher in Bicholim and currently presides over the Goa unit of the BJP Mahila Morcha.
During Parrikars last tenure, Sawant was elected as the Speaker of the state Assembly; he formerly chaired the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation, a special purpose department and Parrikar’s brainchild, aimed at taking up various infrastructure works in the coastal state.
Challenges ahead for the new Goa CM
Pramod Sawant’s critics say his biggest USP is that he keeps to himself and gets work done without much fanfare, a style that brought him to Parrikars notice.
After Parrikar’s health steadily declined, it was Sawant he relied on to get work done; Sawant attended public functions on his behalf, including hoisting the flag on national holidays, making him the most obvious choice for his successor.
“I will not be able to work as much as Manohar Parrikar ji but I will definitely try to work as much as possible,” Pramod Sawant told NDTV reporters early on Tuesday.
That said, Sawant had the backing and trust of Parrikar back then, and it is a well-known fact that Parrikar was the tallest and most acceptable face of Goan politics.
With the ex-defence minister’s demise and the precarious numbers in either camp, Sawant now faces a real challenge in keeping the NDA alliance intact, especially to appease key allies who will want a bigger share, decision-making powers and Cabinet portfolios in the state.
The curious case of Goan government
Goan politics, of late, became a case in point for its unique constitution following the 2017 Assembly polls. The former Congress government had to resign its stake to form a government after failing to secure an absolute majority despite being the single-largest party.
Following the hung verdict, the BJP entered unlikely post-poll alliances with regional players Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) to form the government. This formula was later reversed when the Congress staked a claim to form the government in Karnataka last year with JD(S).
The Goa Assembly strength is down to 36 MLAswith the deaths of Parrikar on Sunday and Francis DSouza in February, and with the resignations of two Congress members. The Congress has 14 MLAs, the BJP 12, the MGP and GFP three each, the NCP one and three are Independents.
According to reports, in the hours after news of Parrikar’s death leading to Sawant’s appointment, there was a mad scramble for power among leaders of alliance parties as well as the Opposition.
The Congress attacked the BJP, saying it had no right to stake claim and called the current seat-share arrangement an artificial majority. It asked Governor Mridula Sinha to invite the Opposition to form the government.
A tough bargain and congratulations in order
But the biggest obstacle came from the alliesGFPs Vijai Sardesai and MGPs Sudin Dhavalikar; the BJP offered the post of deputy chief minister to both. The decision to have two deputies is unprecedented for the tiny seaside state; the act in itself underlines the constant power grab that threatens the brittle coalition.
Sardesai and Dhavalikar reportedly claimed that their support was for Parrikar, not the BJP, and that after him, all bets were off. Objecting to the ex-Speaker’s candidature, they apparently held out all evening before coming on board at midnight. Tough negotiations were believed to have brought them around.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, credited for forging the 2017 alliance with Parrikar as chief, landed in the morning to take control of the situation; he was followed by BJP president Amit Shah; the latter was officially in the state to attend Parrikar’s funeral but stepped in to convince the two leaders to accept Sawant. This pushed the number of BJP MLAs and its allies to 20 in the 40-member assembly, nullifying Congress’s claim to have a majority.
Following the swearing-in ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet: “Best wishes to Dr. Pramod Sawant and his team as they begin their journey towards fulfilling the dreams of the people of Goa. I am sure they will build on the work done in the last few years and boost Goa’s growth trajectory.”
Prarthana Mitra is a Staff Writer at Qrius