Panaji:
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday completed one year in office.
Sawant took over as chief minister following the death of Manohar Parrikar.
Sawant, who was then Speaker of the state Assembly, was selected for the top post by his party BJP which ruled in the state in alliance with the Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and a few independents.
After winning the trust vote, Sawant continued with the same set of ministers till July 2019.
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Then, in a coup of sorts, ten out of 15 Congress MLAs switched loyalty to the BJP, giving the saffron party a comfortable majority with 27 legislators in the 40-member house.
Sawant then proceeded to drop GFP’s Vijai Sardesai, Vinod Palyekar and Jayesh Salgaonka and Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte from the cabinet.
The opposition tried to corner the chief minister on the issue of Mahadayi river water distribution.
The Supreme Court notified the award of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal, paving the way for Karnataka to build a dam on Kalsa and Bhandura tributaries of the Mahadayi to which Goa is opposed.
The development led to Sawant facing flak for `failing’ to protect the state’s interests.
On the issue of resumption of iron ore mining industry in the state, there was some relief in the last one year with the Supreme Court — which has stayed mining — allowing transportation of the ore on which royalty has been paid.
The opposition also targeted Sawant for `financial mismanagement’ with the state borrowing Rs 200 crore after every two months.
