PANAJI
Since the time Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his council of ministers took office post the June 4 results of the Parliamentary election, at least half a dozen of Goa's Cabinet ministers, including Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, have rushed on trips to Delhi, ostensibly to ensure ongoing 'double-engine' projects in their respective ministries are not derailed.
Sawant was the first to hit the National Capital and party sources said he was assigned some role and duties in the formation of the coalition government exercise by the party bigwigs. In tow was the BJP's State president and Rajya Sabha MP, Sadanand Tanavade.
Sawant also made a second trip alongwith Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira during which the duo held a meeting with Union Environment Minister, Bupendra Yadav, and managed to extract an assurance that issues linked to the ministry like the ESA notification from which some villages have to be dropped, sand mining and Coastal Zone Management Plan will be resolved.
Earlier this week, Sawant made his third trip to Delhi in Modi 3.0, which triggered speculation of a possible cabinet reshuffle and the imminent transfer of the Director General of Police (DGP) Jaspal Singh, IPS, even if the chief minister himself has said nothing of that sort.
Interestingly, while Sawant was in Delhi on this third trip, also present in the national capital was former chief minister and Margao MLA, Digambar Kamat, apparently on a 'solo mission'.
Kamat, spurred speculation after he met and greeted Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and discussed his constituency's 'ring road' project with the latter.
Kamat's Delhi sojourn, coinciding with Sawant's official visit there, was explained by the former chief minister as just a "coincidence" as he had gone to attend a meeting of the national association for swimming.
Not to be left behind, Transport Minister Mavin Godinho also landed in Delhi a day earlier on Tuesday. He too met Gadkari and extended an invite to him for the foundation stone laying ceremony of the flyover at Dabolim Grade Separator area.
Power Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavlikar too landed in Delhi this week and made a pit-stop in the secretariat of the Renewable Energy Minister Pralhad Joshi, ostensibly to seek support from him for Goa's push for solar power and other alternative energy sources.
Last but not the least, was Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar, who went to Delhi and met Modi himself.
Tawadkar, who is said to be waiting in the queue to enter Sawant's Cabinet, came back to Goa and claimed that he has pitched to the Prime Minister a food park for Canacona and also invited him to inaugurate this year's Lokotsav.
