Goa MLA Sankalp Amonkar was sworn in as a minister in chief minister Pramod Sawant’s cabinet on Saturday, filling the vacancy left by the death of former agriculture minister Ravi Naik, ahead of assembly elections expected early next year.
This government has built a bridge in 65 days so I’d say there’s a lot of time to get work done. A former president of the Indian Youth Congress, Amonkar rose through the ranks before being elected as a first-time MLA on a Congress ticket in 2022 from the Mormugao constituency, unseating the BJP’s incumbent Milind Naik, who was then a three-term MLA. Goa Governor P A Gajapathi Raju administered the oath of office and secrecy to Amonkar in the presence of chief minister Sawant and other cabinet ministers. Amonkar, one of eight Congress legislators who shifted from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as part of a defection led by Digambar Kamat, Michael Lobo and others, will become the 12th minister in the Pramod Sawant cabinet. “I don’t believe that it’s late. The way the party is growing stronger I believe whatever time is there no matter how little I will do what I can for the people of Goa. Reshuffles in the Sawant cabinet have been rare, and Amonkar will be the third Congress defector to be given a cabinet berth under Sawant. Before this, Sawant inducted Aleixo Sequeira after dropping BJP minister Nilesh Cabral. Sequeira was subsequently dropped owing to ill-health, and Digambar Kamat was inducted in his stead.
Whatever is possible I will do on the responsibilities that I will be given,” he said. Chief minister Sawant congratulated the newly inducted minister and extended his best wishes to him “as he takes on this important responsibility.”
