The death of the former defence minister, who represented the Panaji assembly seat, will also necessitate a fourth bypoll in Goa.
After the assembly polls in 2017, the GFP, which had won three seats, had extended support for the formation of the then BJP-led state government under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar.
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.
The lowest victory margin of 76 was recorded in St Andre constituency in North Goa, where Revolutionary Goans Party, a new political outfit in the state, made its debut by defeating BJP candidate and sitting MLA Francis Silveira. RGP candidate Viresh Borkar won the contest.
'As they assaulted me, they kept shouting, "So, you rascal, you speak against officers? Against ministers?" -- and each accusation was accompanied by more blows. 'Seeing that I could not get up, they began stamping on me with their feet and continued until they were exhausted.' Pinarayi Vijayan -- now Kerala's chief minister -- was imprisoned during the Emergency. This is his account of what the police torture he suffered in jail. A revealing excerpt from Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai's Democracy Enchained, Nation Disgraced: Dark Days Of India's Emergency. The first of a series to mark 50 years of the Emergency.
A BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said all party MLAs have been asked not to leave the state.
Michael Lobo, who resigned as deputy speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, and three of the 10 MLAs who joined the BJP -- Chandrakant Kavlekar, Jeniffer Monserratte, Philip Neri Rodrigues -- were sworn in as new ministers.
Elections to the 40-member Goa Assembly are due in two months. Recent visits by Banerjee, Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi heated up things in the otherwise "susegad" atmosphere in the small state.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa looks all set to score a hattrick in the coastal state with the support of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, as vote counting trends of the February 14 elections indicated the BJP missing the majority mark by a whisker.
Earlier, BJP leader Ram Lal said the Goa government is stable and no demand has been made for a change in the leadership.
Chidambaram, who is the Congress' senior election observer for the assembly polls next year, asserted that the Trinamool Congress' entry into Goa "appears to be an imposition from the top that is based in West Bengal" and said he does not know the Mamata Banerjee-led party's motive in trying to start a unit in Goa by "encouraging defections" from other parties.
The chief minister has been in the US for treatment of a pancreatic ailment since March this year.
Sardesai is the second member of the cabinet after health minister Vishwajit Rane to talk about the exact nature of Parrikar's illness.
With just over a month to go for assembly elections in Goa, political observers feel the Congress may upset the Bharatiya Janata Party's plans for retaining power in the coastal state, but appear less enthused about the Trinamool Congress, whose entry has added colour to the poll campaign.
While the Congress currently has 14 MLAs, down from 16 after Sopte and Shirodkar left it to join the BJP, the latter has 13 MLAs.
The opposition party had earlier written to Sinha, staking claim to form the government on Friday and then again on Sunday.
The CM said that parents have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their children.
The total income of national and regional parties from unknown sources for 2020-21 stands at Rs 690.67 crore.
The TMC, which is keen to leave a mark in its outing in Goa, had suggested a broad alliance but not much has moved on the proposal due to competing interests and apparent lack of faith between the opposition parties.
Both the BJP and the Congress said they will seek support of the MGP in case they fall short of the majority mark of 21.
The discussions on the new Goa CM came to a halt after Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar wanted to be the chief minister.
They said this was preliminary voter turnout and the final figure may cross 80 per cent as electoral fate of 301 candidates were locked in EVMs which will be opened on March 10 for counting.
As per state government statistics, 26 patients had died at the GMCH during the wee hours of Tuesday, followed by 21 on Wednesday, 15 on Thursday and 13 on Friday (total 75).
Parrikar will stay at his private residence in Panaji,
'The BJP has proved that it is a threat to all its allies'
"The BJP is in the best position to form the government, I am confident of getting necessary support from others," the former Goa chief minister said.
Former Goa Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane, who had defied the party whip to vote against the trust motion of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar last month, on Thursday formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Chidambaram, who is the Congress' senior election observer for the Goa Assembly polls, also hit out at the Trinamool Congress for its barbs at the Congress for not forging an alliance with it, saying the party continued to poach Congress leaders, despite making an offer of a tie-up.
The development comes at a time when Parrikar, 62, is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.
Besides 11 members from BJP, three each from the Goa Forward Party, the MGP and independents supported Sawant during the head count conducted in the House.
'The people of Goa have not given the BJP a mandate to form a government, but the fact is they are trying to form the government.'
'This is a new Congress. Let the BJP be warned.'
The Congress won 17 seats in Goa, only four short of the magic figure to form the government. Soon after the results threw up a hung assembly, Independent candidate Rohan Khaunte had extended support to the party.
A senior state BJP leader had said earlier in the day that Sawant would induct BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker of Goa Assembly Michael Lobo, and three of the ten MLAs who have switched over from the Congress.
The government is functioning 'very well' and all the alliance partners are firmly supporting Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment at Delhi's AIIMS, the BJP leader asserted.
If pandemic (mis)management threatened to dominate Goa's electoral discourse, the BJP is up against a deeper structural issue in its organisation, created by the fact that a majority of the legislature party and the ministerial council is made up of Congress defectors, disparagingly referred to by the Opposition as "imports". Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
In the last two-and-a half years, the Congress has lost 13 of its MLAs to the BJP which now enjoys an overwhelming majority in the assembly.
With this, the Congress's strength in the 40-member assembly reduced to 14 from 16.
The culling of key state leaders and bureaucrats has given rise to distrust and uneasiness in Pramod Sawant's style of functioning, notes Aditi Phadnis.
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