Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday (March 12) resigned from the post to pave the way for the formation of a new government in the state, two days after his party - BJP - emerged as the single largest force by winning 20 seats in the 40-member assembly.
Sawant met Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai at the Raj Bhavan around noon and submitted his resignation.
Talking to reporters later, Sawant said he has been asked to continue as a caretaker chief minister till the new government is formed. "The governor has given me an appointment letter to be the caretaker chief minister of the state," he said.
Sawant said the date of staking claim to form the new government is yet to be decided by the party. "The party's central observers will visit Goa and other three states (where the BJP has retained power), after which the dates of swearing-in in the respective states would be announced," he said. He refused to divulge when the observers will arrive.
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He said the procedure to stake claim to form the new government has already begun with the state cabinet on Friday deciding to recommend the dissolution of the House on Monday. The tenure of the outgoing assembly is scheduled to end on March 15 and its dissolution will pave the way for the constitution of a new House and kick-start the process to form the next government.
In the Goa Assembly Election 2022, the opposition Congress, which was hoping for a good show this time after losing the race for forming government in 2017, bagged 11 seats (down from 17 five years ago), while its ally GFP emerged victorious in one assembly segment.
As per the data, Congress's vote share slipped from 28.4 per cent in 2017 to 23.5 per cent this time.
