Pramod Sawant took oath as Goa chief minister for the second term in a grand ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top BJP leaders at the at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Taleigao on Monday.
His 8-member cabinet were also sworn in by governor PS Sreedharan Pillai and includes Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane, Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho, Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral, Ponda MLA Ravi Naik, Shiroda MLA Subhash Shirodkar, Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte, Priol MLA Govind Gaude, and Panaji MLA Atanasio 'Babush' Monserrate.
Sawant, an Ayurveda medical practitioner, is an MLA from Sankhalim in North Goa. Sawant's electoral career began in 2008 when he was fielded from the Sankhalim (then Pale) Assembly segment by the BJP, but lost to Congress candidate Pratap Gauns.
However, he managed to win the seat in 2012 when the BJP contested the elections under the leadership of Parrikar. That was the only time when the BJP won a majority on its own in the Assembly.
The 48-year-old chief minister got re-elected in 2017 from Sankhalim and went on to become the Assembly Speaker before being chosen by the BJP, at the age of 46, to succeed Parrikar as the CM.
In the Assembly polls held last month, Sawant was elected with a margin of 666 votes against his nearest rival Dharmesh Saglani of the Congress.
His wife Sulakshana Sawant is also an active BJP worker and associated with the party's women's wing in Goa.
Sawant,was at the helm when the coastal state faced the Covid-19 pandemic along with other parts of the country.
The BJP has won 20 seats in the February 14 polls, just one short of a majority in the 40- member state Assembly. It also has support of five other MLAs -- three independent and two from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.