Panaji, March 28: Pramod Sawant was sworn-in as chief minister of Goa for a second time on Monday. Sawant, representing Sanquelim constituency in the state assembly. He succeeded Manohar Parrikar in 2019, who passed away after battling cancer? Sawant was elected as an MLA from Sanquelim constituency for the consecutively third term after the February-March polls. He defeated Dharmesh Saglani of Congress. The swearing-in ceremony, set to be a grand affair to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Ministers — Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, and Bharatiya Janata Party national president J P Nadda and chief ministers of around 15 states. The event, to be held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium at Taleigao, near the capital here, is to be attended by around 10,000 people. This is the second time that the swearing-in of a chief minister is to be held outside Raj Bhawan. Earlier, Manohar Parrikar was sworn-in as chief minister outside the Raj Bahavan in 2012. The BJP has come to power in the state consecutively for the third term. It won 20 seats out of 40 it contested while it is being supported by three Independents and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) which has two MLAs. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled at 11 am. The BJP, however, has been tight-lipped about the number of ministers in the Sawant government. When asked about the size of his ministry yesterday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said,”You will come to know tomorrow.’ According to Director General of Police (DGP) Indradev Shukla tight security arrangements have been made in view of the grand event. Around 2,000 Goa Police personnel are deployed and special teams have arrived from outside while Coast Guards and Navy have been kept on alert, the DGP said. While railway stations, bus stands and hotels were kept under strict surveillance using drones and other high-tech gadgets, he added. Results of assembly elections in Goa were announced on March 10, but BJP took its own time to stake claim to form the government. It was speculated that tussle between Sawant and Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane was reason behind the delay but the party denied it vehemently saying the delay was due to party winning majority in other states as well. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Goa Chief Minister designate Pramod Sawant along with other leaders and officials visited the venue and oversaw the arrangements. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, former union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudi, Bhartiya Janata Party National Vice President and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghuvar Das, Union Minister of State for Railways and Textiles Darshana Jardosh have arrived in the state a day ahead. (UNI)
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