Not accidental, but elected CM now, says Sawant after swearing in

Panaji, March 28 (IANS) Taking a dig at his detractors, newly sworn-in Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant, on Monday said that this time round he was not an accidental one, but the one who has been elected and not selected for the top job.

Goa's 14th Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and eight ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai at a grand ceremony at an indoor stadium near Panaji in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J.P. Nadda and a host of central BJP leaders.

"The BJP had declared me as a CM (candidate) and I am thankful to the central leadership that they gave me another opportunity. I am not an accidental CM, I am not selected but elected," Sawant said.

Sawant was first appointed Chief Minister in 2019, following the death of then CM Manohar Parrikar and had to face rebuke from his critics who called him an accidental chief minister.

The Chief Minister also said that his aim was to adopt Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat to make Goa 'swayampura' (self sufficient).

"My vision is to adopt Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for Atmanirbhar Bharat into Swayampurna Goa. The mission Swayampurna Goa 2.0 has started. We will focus on infrastructure development and human development. I hope the Centre will support us even more," Sawant told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony.

The eight ministers who were sworn-in are Vishwajit Rane, Mauvin Godinho, Ravi Naik, Nilesh Cabral, Subhash Shirodkar, Rohan Khaunte, Govind Gaude and Atanasio Monserrate.

Interestingly, five out of the eight Ministers are former Congress leaders who joined the BJP in the last five years, barring Godinho, who joined the BJP six years back.