The Manohar Parrikar-led government was dismissed by Governor S C Jamir on Wednesday after it won a confidence vote amidst chaos and confusion over the disqualification of an independent member.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday inducted six more ministers in his Cabinet, including four legislators from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Goa, the only Indian state to have legalised casinos, will allow 10 betting houses to come up in the state as part of the government's plan to regulate gambling activities.
The swearing-in ceremony of Pramod Sawant as Goa's chief minister will be held on March 28 and prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will attend the event.
The Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday decided to forge a pre-poll alliance for the next month's assembly elections in Goa, saying that the Congress didn't respond to their proposal for a joint contest.
The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Raj Bhavan at 11 am, sources said.
No business could be transacted in the Lok Sabha and Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had to adjourn the House for the day.
While none of the five 'rebel' MLAs were available for comments, sources in the BJP claimed the legislators were in touch with them.
This will be the first political delegation Pratibha would be receiving after taking over as the head of state from her predecessor A P J Abdul Kalam.
However, the action is not going to have any impact as the arithmetic still favours the Congress, which has 17 MLAs in a House of 34. The BJP has 16.
Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar told the state legislative assembly on Monday that the government is considering Playboy's proposal to set up a club at Candolim beach, while responding to a question by Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Michael Lobo on the floor of the House.
Many of the Congress stalwarts including four from Churchill Alemao family and state party chief Subhas Shirodkar bit the dust as the Bharatiya Janata Party-Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party alliance on Tuesday managed to bag majority of seats in Goa assembly elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has announced a list of 22 candidates for the forthcoming Goa polls. The list, which was announced on Sunday night, includes names of its prominent leaders except its Member of Parliament Sripad Naik, who has refused to contest. The party's central election committee, which met in Delhi on Sunday night with party national president Nitin Gadkari, finalised the list.
The opposition party termed the defection by eight out of its 11 MLAs in Goa only seven months after the assembly elections as the "height of betrayal and shamelessness."
He was appointed military governor of Goa following the surrender of Portuguese forces on December 19, 1961.
Rane, 87, who has served as the chief minister of the coastal state for six times, had won from the Poriem assembly constituency as many as 11 consecutive times.
"I was not happy in Congress. The Congress state leadership has failed completely," Madkaikar said.
The Congress has accused the two MLAs of hobnobbing with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to bring about a split in the opposition party.
The brother of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sonali Phogat has filed a formal complaint with the Goa Police, claiming that she was murdered by two of her associates.
Bharatiya Janata Party Vice-President Uma Bharti will not attend the National Executive meet in Goa this weekend.
The "guests from Goa", BJP sources said, have been shifted to a private farm house on the Jaipur-Ajmer road, about 20 km from Jaipur.
Rodrigues in a statement on Tuesday said, "Zakir Naik is a wanted man under the Indian law. He is charged with money laundering crimes and hate speeches."
The death of the former defence minister, who represented the Panaji assembly seat, will also necessitate a fourth bypoll in Goa.
A potpourri of political parties are in the fray in Goa.
Soon after meeting, Raut hinted at a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in UP and Goa, stating that the parties are thinking of working together in both the states that are scheduled to go to assembly polls early next year.
A Goa court on Wednesday acquitted 40 accused, including senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, in the first ever case of communal riots in the state, which had occurred in the twin towns of Curchorem-Sanvordem in 2006. The sessions court at Margao acquitted 40 accused including BJP general secretary Satish Dhond and senior leader Sharmad Raiturcar. The accused had been charged with unlawful assembly, mischief and criminal trespass.
The BJP has the cadres, organisation, and extensive funding. But in the absence of a towering political personality like Manohar Parrikar, the Goa outcome is hard to predict.
Reverend Filipe Neri Ferrao, has urged the central government to "immediately and unconditionally revoke the Citizenship Amendment Act" and stop quashing the "right to dissent".
Rediff Labs analysed the 2012 Goa assembly election results and merged it with 2014 Lok sabha election results to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2017 electoral battle.
With the BJP's strength in the 40-member Goa assembly increasing to 27 with two-thirds of Congress legislators joining it, the Sawant government does not need allies' support any longer.
He also alleged that Dalit MLAs, minister or councillors of the AAP were not given any respect.
Cashing-in on the anti-incumbency factor in a big way, the Bharatiya Janata Party-Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party combine on Wednesday rode to power in Goa, ousting the Congress and securing majority in a House of 40 members, nearly half of whom will be new faces.
In the 2012 assembly elections, Goa had recorded an impressive 81.8 per cent voting.
The numbers game seems weighed against Pratapsinh Rane.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manohar Parrikar is all set to become the chief minister of Goa for the third time after the BJP-MGP combine on Wednesday staked its claim to form the government with the support of 26 legislators and the swearing -in will be held on Friday.
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