Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The long-awaited cabinet reshuffle in Goa has gathered momentum with Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira offering to step down from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s council of ministers on Wednesday evening, citing personal grounds.
His resignation creates the second vacancy in the cabinet, the first arising after Sawant dropped Minister Govind Gaude in June.
Party sources confirmed that Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar and senior Congress-turncoat Digambar Kamat, MLA from Margao, are slated to be inducted as ministers. The oath-taking is expected tomorrow.
Tawadkar is likely to demit his Speaker’s post on Thursday, following which Sanvordem MLA Ganesh Gaonkar will be elevated as Speaker, a decision already endorsed by the BJP legislature party.
The reshuffle, which comes after months of behind-the-scenes consultations on performance, regional balance and preparations for local polls, has been on the cards for weeks.
While CM Sawant had maintained silence until recently, BJP state chief Damodar Naik had hinted at a shake-up before Ganesh Chaturthi.
Sequeira, who defected from Congress with seven others in September 2022, was brought into the cabinet in November 2023.
