PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant may have stoutly refrained from making any comments on a possible rejig of his team but talk of a Cabinet reshuffle persists in the corridors of power.
The discussions revolve around the possible induction of Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar into the Cabinet along with a couple of the turncoats from the Congress, including former chief minister, Digambar Kamat.
Meanwhile, reports of the induction of Tawadkar into the Cabinet, gained momentum after the Speaker recently made a trip to Delhi, where he met the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and other BJP bigwigs.
Also, so far, only one of the eight Congress defectors -- Aleixo Sequeira -- has found a place in the Cabinet. He was sworn-in a minister in November last year after Nilesh Cabral quit to make way.
Since then, speculation of a Cabinet reshuffle to induct more of the defectors has constantly sustained and intensified now with Kamat, Calangute MLA Michael Lobo and Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar said to be among the names on the shortlist, along with that of Tawadkar.
The Kamat-Lobo-Amonkar trio are the only ones from the group of eight defectors who have not been accommodated with any office.
However, exactly when Sawant will resort to the Cabinet reshuffle, meanwhile, has also been the subject of much debate with one view suggesting it could be as soon as this week while another opinion predicts it to be timed after the end of the upcoming monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly since Tawadkar's is to be inducted and a replacement in the Speaker's office will need time to get into legislative action.
Meanwhile, if Sawant is to induct new ministers, he will have to create vacancies by dropping incumbents as the constitutional scheme permits a maximum of 12 ministers (inclusive of the chief minister) for small States like Goa.
Sources claim that at least three Cabinet ministers have been put on notice -- Art and Culture Minister, Govind Gaude, Fisheries Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar and surprisingly, Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik.
Sawant is steadfastly refusing to comment on whether he will exercise his prerogative and rejig his team. The BJP State president, Sadanand Shet Tanavade, who is Rajya Sabha MP and had ruled out any further changes after Sequeira had been sworn in at the expense of Cabral, is now saying that it is the prerogative of the chief minister whether to change his team or not.
