Pramod Sawant tenders resignation as CM on Saturday
Two days after the Goa Assembly Elections 2022 results were declared, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday met state Governor P. S. Sreedharan Pillai at Raj Bhavan and tendered his resignation as the CM.
The Governor congratulated Sawant as BJP won 20 seats in the just concluded Goa Assembly elections and wished him a fruitful second term in office.
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.
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.
Earlier in the day, Pramod Sawant paid homage to Goa's first chief Minister Bhausaheb Bandodkar on his birth anniversy. The daughters of newly elected independent MLAs Chandrakant Shetty and Bhausaheb were also present on the occasion.
Chairman Rajesh Patnekar, Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goyal and Director General of Police Indradev Shukla were present on the occasion.
On Thursday, the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 20 seats in the 40-member assembly, just one short of the majority mark, and later said it has secured support from regional outfit MGP, which bagged two seats, and all the three newly-elected Independent MLAs, putting it in a comfortable in terms of numbers