Panaji: Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar was sworn in as a minister in the Goa cabinet on Saturday, just a few months shy of the assembly elections. Governor P A Gajapathi Raju administered the oath of office and secrecy to the BJP MLA, filling the void within the cabinet that was created after Ravi Naik passed away in Oct last year.Chief minister Pramod Sawant said that the portfolios will be allocated to Amonkar soon.Sawant said that Sankalp’s induction into the cabinet will benefit his constituency and the party. “A new minister comes with a new vision and new perspective. The portfolios will be allocated soon and he will handle them properly,” said CM.Amonkar is the third legislator to be inducted in the Sawant-led cabinet from among the group of eight Congress MLAs who switched over to BJP from Congress in Sept 2022.With the assembly elections likely to be held in early 2027, Amonkar may not get much time to fully explore the departments allocated to him but BJP is counting on his induction to bolster its electoral aspirations in all four assembly seats of Mormugao taluka.Amonkar’s ministerial elevation is a realisation of the assurance given to some Congress-turned-BJP MLAs who jumped ship in 2022. With the assembly elections around the corner, BJP would want to send a subtle signal that it keeps its promises, said a political commentator.The first-time MLA contested the 2022 assembly elections on a Congress ticket but switched to BJP after the Congress party failed to win a majority in the 2022 assembly elections. Since then, he has been adamant about being given a ministerial berth even when Sawant tried to appease him by appointing him chairperson of the Sewerage and Infrastructural Development Corporation of Goa Ltd.“Time may be little, but no matter how little… I will do what I can,” Amonkar said. “I will fast track whatever works are ongoing and I will make sure that before the elections, all the works will be completed.”A former Indian Youth Congress president and state Congress vice president, Amonkar has seen a meteoric rise in his stature, unseating BJP’s three-term MLA Milind Naik from the Mormugao constituency.
