BJP leader Pramod Sawant will be sworn in as the chief minister of Goa for a second term on March 28. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda and other senior BJP leaders will be in attendance when the 48-year-old leader is administered the oath of office.
Sawant won the recently held assembly election from the Sankhalim seat in North Goa. He had served as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar in 2017. The party later elevated him as the chief minister in 2019 after Parrikar’s untimely demise. Sawant is an Ayurveda medical practitioner.
Sawant today informed that the swearing-in ceremony would be held at the Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee stadium on March 28 at 11 am. He confirmed that PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda, Union minister Nitin Gadkari and chief ministers of seven BJP-ruled states would attend the event.
The BJP led by Sawant has already submitted a letter of support of 25 MLAs to Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai and has staked claim to form a government. The BJP won 20 seats in the 40-member Assembly. While it was one short of the majority mark of 21, the saffron party got support from three independents and two MLAs of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
Three-time MLA Sawant was unanimously elected the head of BJP’s legislature party in the state at a meeting of newly-elected MLAs on Monday.