Senior BJP leader Manohar Parrikar was sworn in as Goa Chief Minister at a public ceremony in Camapal on the city outskirts on Friday evening. Five Ministers were also sworn in.
At a first-of-its-kind public swearing-in ceremony in the State, attended by a huge crowd, Governor K. Sankaranarayanan administered oath of secrecy and office to the Chief Minister and the Ministers at 5 p.m.
The Ministers are Francisco D'Souza, Ramkrishna Dhavlikar (MGP), Laxmikant Parsekar, Matanhy Saldanha and Dayanand Mandrekar.
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Senior BJP leaders, including L.K. Advani and Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Venkaiah Naidu, Prakash Javadekar, Shahnawaz Hussain, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Gopinath Munde, Karnataka Chief Minister Sadanand Gowda and his colleague Fisheries Minister Anand Asnotikar, attended the ceremony.
Outgoing Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Congress MLAs, senior Congress-NCP leaders, and former Ministers, were conspicuous by their absence, except Babu Kavelkar, MLA-elect of the Congress from Quepem.
Immediately after the swearing-in, Mr. Parrikar came down from the dais and took blessings from Mr. Advani. Expressing happiness over the massive support from the minority Catholic community to the BJP, Mr. Advani said it only proved wrong the misconceptions spread by the party's detractors.
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Earlier, addressing the crowd at the swearing-in, Mr. Parrikar promised a “zero tolerance” policy to corruption. He assured the people that corruption would be eliminated from the administration in due course.
Mr. Parrikar said his promise to reduce the petrol price by Rs.11 through value added tax restructuring would be effective by April 2.
He reached out to the youth, stating that they would no more have to migrate in pursuit of employment. In an apparent dig at the erstwhile Congress regime when some Ministers had acquired a dubious reputation for demanding “money for government jobs,” he assured the youth that they would no more have to pay bribes for government employment.
“With the clear mandate you have given us, let us join hands to make this a “Bhangarale goem” (golden Goa).
At its first Cabinet meeting, the Parrikar government decided to hold a three-day brief budget session from March 19 to 21. The Cabinet expansion will be held after the presentation of the State budget on March 21.
BJP makeover
The first lot of Ministers include two legislators from the minority community — Mr. D'Souza and Mr. Saldanha — who were in the earlier Parrikar-led alliance government toppled in 2005.
The decision is indicative of the BJP's new face in Goa, where as many as six of its 21 new legislators are from the Catholic community. Two more Independents supporting the government too are Catholics from Salcete, a Catholic-dominated taluk of south Goa.