NT Reporter
Panaji
The newly inducted ministers into the Pramod Sawant-led cabinet, Digambar Kamat and Ramesh Tawadkar, are likely to get their portfolios Saturday evening.
Kamat and Tawadkar were sworn in as ministers on Thursday and since then there has been much speculation on what portfolios they would be allotted by the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
According to sources, Kamat is likely to get the Art and Culture portfolio, a portfolio he has held for over a decade, bringing the once-considered insignificant portfolio into
limelight.
However, being a former chief minister, he is likely to get one or two major portfolios. Will it be Public Works Department and environment or something else? Following the exit of Nilesh Cabral, PWD is with the chief minister. Environment portfolio was with Aleixo Sequeira who has resigned from the cabinet three days ago.
Tawadkar is likely to get the Sports and Youth Affairs and Tribal Welfare portfolios. He is also expecting some other major portfolios, said sources.
As Kamat and Tawadkar are senior leaders in BJP, Sawant may have to do a tightrope walk while allocating the portfolios to them and it will be interesting to see how the Chief Minister strikes the
right balance.
Sources said that there is also a move to reshuffle some of the portfolios of other ministers in the cabinet. However, it is not yet confirmed whether the exercise will be taken up now or after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
Kamat has vast experience as chief minister and also as a cabinet minister. He was a minister in the Manohar Parrikar-led government from 2000 to 2005 and later in Pratapsing Rane’s government from 2005 to 2007. From 2007 to 2012, Kamat was the chief minister of Congress-led government.
On the other hand, Tawadkar served as a minister from 2012 to 2017 and handled departments such as tribal welfare, sports and youth affairs, agriculture and animal husbandry. He was the Speaker of the state legislative assembly from March 2022 till Thursday.
