Panaji: BJP MLA Sankalp Amonkar was sworn in as a cabinet minister in the Dr Pramod Sawant-led Goa government on Saturday, filling the berth that had remained vacant since the death of former agriculture minister Ravi Naik in October last year.
Governor P Ashok Gajapathy Raju administered the oath of office and secrecy to Amonkar at a ceremony held at Lok Bhavan in Dona Paula, in the presence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other cabinet colleagues.
Amonkar's induction into the cabinet is expected to strengthen the BJP in the Mormugao region ahead of the 2027 assembly election.
Ravi Naik had passed away following a cardiac arrest on October 15 last year at the age of 79. A prominent figure in Goa politics, Naik had served as the chief minister twice and was elected to the state assembly seven times.
Amonkar had contested the 2022 assembly elections on a Congress ticket and defeated three-time BJP MLA Milind Naik from Mormugao by a margin of 1,941 votes. He joined the BJP along with seven other Congress MLAs in September 2022.
Before joining the saffron party, Amonkar had served as the vice-president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee and held positions in the party's youth wing.
After joining the BJP, he was appointed chairman of the Goa Sewage and Infrastructural Development Corporation.
The Sawant-led government had been functioning with one vacancy in its 12-member Council of Ministers since Naik's demise.
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(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
