Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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Amit Shah and Nadda welcome them into the party
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday met BJP president Amit Shah along with the 10 MLAs who had defected from the Congress to the saffron party. He later held deliberations with Mr. Shah over a reshuffle of the State Cabinet.
Mr. Sawant, who arrived in New Delhi with the 10 MLAs, met BJP working president J.P. Nadda who formally welcomed the new entrants into the BJP. A Cabinet reshuffle is likely in Goa in the next few days, two party officials said on condition of anonymity. Mr. Sawant would have to drop current Ministers, many of whom are from BJP allies and whose support was crucial to the government’s survival, to accommodate the defectors from the Congress, the officials added. The BJP’s strength has now gone up to 27 in the 40-member in the Goa Assembly and it is no longer dependent on the support of allies such as the Goa Forward Party or even Independents. Mr. Sawant said the legislators’ decision to join the BJP was entirely “voluntary” with no prior promises.
Chandrakant Kavlekar, who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly before he joined the BJP along with nine other MLAs, told presspersons that the legislators wanted development work in their constituencies. “It was not possible while we were in the Opposition,” he said.
