3 ex-Congs MLAs, 1 BJP may join Goa cabinet
July 12, 2019  11:52
image
Four Goa MLAs, including three Congress rebels who joined the ruling BJP a couple of days ago, would be inducted in the state cabinet on Saturday, sources said on Friday. 


Ten of the 15 Congress MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, switched sides and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday. 


Accompanied by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, the breakaway group met BJP president Amit Shah and its working president J P Nadda in New Delhi on Thursday. All the MLAs returned to Goa on Friday.


However, Sawant stayed back to attend a high-level meeting on the issue of mining in Goa, which has come to a standstill following a February 2018 Supreme Court order. 


The meeting will be held in the national capital on Friday evening. Shah, who is also the Union home minister, and Union Minister of Mines Pralhad Joshi will attend the meeting. 


A top BJP source said three of the 10 former Congress MLAs and Deputy Speaker of Legislative Assembly Michael Lobo would be sworn-in as ministers on Saturday. 


However, he did not disclose the names of the three former Congress MLAs who would get ministerial berths. When contacted, Lobo, a BJP MLA, confirmed that he and three other MLAs would join the Sawant-led cabinet. 


Lobo was instrumental in convincing the 10 Congress lawmakers to switch sides, giving the BJP an overwhelming majority in the 40-member state Assembly, the sources said. In order to accommodate the new MLAs in the cabinet, Sawant would be dropping four ministers, most of them from the BJP's alliance partners, the sources said. -- PTI


IMAGE: Ten of 15 Congress members led by leader of opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar gives letter for merger of their faction in BJP to Speaker Rajesh Patnekar in Panaji. 
« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES