Goa cabinet reshuffle soon, CM Pramod Sawant in Delhi to discuss details

Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant landed in Delhi late Sunday night to discuss and finalise the cabinet reshuffle in the state. A senior BJP functionary said Sawant would go for a cabinet reshuffle before the assembly's monsoon session, scheduled to be held from July 21.

“The cabinet reshuffle can take place as early as this week. Sawant is scheduled to meet party president J P Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah. He will discuss and finalise the number of ministers to be dropped, and who should be inducted into his cabinet,” the senior functionary said.He also said that there is a possibility of a portfolio reshuffle, too. “The central leadership will take the final call,” he said.For over a year, Sawant and BJP were trying to go for a cabinet reshuffle to accommodate some Congress MLAs who joined the party.

Three months ago, Sawant had said that if he decided to go for a cabinet reshuffle, it would be purely based on political compulsion and not on performance.“The decision to drop one or two ministers from the cabinet would be taken to win the next assembly elections. The party makes decisions to ensure that we win the elections again and to get 27 seats in 2027. I am confident that BJP will win a fourth term in Goa,” Sawant had said.

The Sawant-led coalition govt completed three years in March 2025. In November 2023, Sawant dropped Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral as the PWD minister and inducted Nuvem MLA Aleixo Sequeira into the cabinet.On June 18, Sawant dropped controversial art and culture minister Govind Gaude from his cabinet. The CM sacked Gaude after the former minister made serious allegations of corruption in the tribal welfare department under Sawant.In Sep 2022, eight months after they did a run of a temple, a chapel, and a mosque, taking a vow not to defect from Congress and even signing an affidavit pledging their loyalty to the party, eight of the 11 MLAs “merged” the Congress legislative wing into BJP, taking the saffron party’s strength to 28 in the 40-member House.The eight Congress MLAs who joined BJP are former CM and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, former leader of opposition and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo, Aleixo Sequeira (Nuvem), Rudolf Fernandes (Santa Cruz), Delilah Lobo (Siolim), Sankalp Amonkar (Mormugao), Kedar Naik (Saligao) and Rajesh Faldessai (Cumbharjua).