Pramod Sawant to succeed Manohar Parrikar, oath ceremony at 11 pm

Panaji: Goa Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant is set to be the next chief minister and is scheduled to take oath at 11 pm on Monday. Sawant will succeed Manohar Parrikar who died on Sunday after battling pancreatic cancer for a year. As per the power-sharing arrangement reached with allies, an MLA each from two small parties backing BJP in the coastal state will be made deputy chief minister. They are Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar.
Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had emerged as frontrunners for Goa CM’s post. Sawant is known to be from the cadre and is seen as someone who had “ear of the chief minister”. A two-time MLA representing Sanquelim constituency, Sawant is among the few leaders in the BJP groomed by Parrikar himself.