Three ex-Congress MLAs, one from BJP likely to join Goa cabinet

4 MLAs from Goa who joined the BJP to join the state cabinet on Saturday. The 4 MLAs include 3 of the rebels from Congress who recently switched sides. However, the names were not disclosed. 10 of the 15 MLAs have already joined the BJP on Wednesday. Goa MLA- Kavlekar who is also to be inducted into the cabinet called BJP a pro-development party and that it would help his constituency when he comes into power.

Panaji: Four Goa MLAs, including 3 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 (BJP) 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 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.

According to sources, three of the 10 former Congress MLAs and Deputy Speaker of Legislative Assembly Michael Lobo would be sworn-in as ministers on Saturday.

However, the names of the MLAs were not disclosed.

When contacted, Lobo, a BJP MLA, confirmed that he and three other MLAs would join the Sawant-led cabinet.

He 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.

Sawant said that, "a decision on the fate of the coalition partners in the cabinet would be taken only after he returned to Goa."

All the three ministers of the Goa Forward Party (GFP) -- its president and Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai, Vinod Palyekar and Jayesh Salgaonkar -- were expected to be dropped, along with Independent MLA and Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte.

The GFP, a regional party, has been with the BJP ever since the party formed the government in Goa after the February, 2017 Assembly polls.

Meanwhile, Kavlekar, who returned to the state from New Delhi said that, "he took the decision to join the BJP as his Assembly constituency had remained underdeveloped all these years."

"I was in the opposition for long which affected the development of my constituency. I have taken this step as the BJP is a pro-development party and it will help the people of my constituency when I am in power," he added.

Besides Kavlekar, the other MLAs who switched sides are Atanasio Monserratte, Jeniffer Monserratte, Francis Silveira, Philip Nery Rodrigues, Cleaofacio Dias, Wilfred D'Sa, Nilkant Halarnkar, Isidor Fernandes and Antonio Fernandes.