Next cabinet reshuffle will take place after Ponda byelection: CM

Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said the next cabinet reshuffle will be held after the Ponda byelection.“We are serious about the Ponda byelection, and we will win the seat. One vacant cabinet seat will be filled automatically. We have kept it for the election,” Sawant said.Ponda had four ministers when BJP formed govt in 2022—WRD minister Subhash Shirodkar, power minister Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar, former art and culture minister Govind Gaude, and former agriculture minister Ravi Naik. After the death of Naik last year, one cabinet berth is vacant.On June 18, 2025, Sawant dropped Gaude from his cabinet after he made serious allegations of corruption in the tribal welfare department, which comes under Sawant.Many MLAs from both North and South Goa were eyeing a cabinet berth during the second cabinet reshuffle in Aug 2025. However, most were left disappointed.Former minister Michael Lobo and Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar have been waiting for a cabinet post, but Sawant appointed them as heads of corporations.Lobo has been made chairperson of the Goa Infrastructure Development Corporation, which is a special purpose vehicle to take up development work on a war footing, and Amonkar has been appointed chairperson of the Sewage and Infrastructural Development Corporation. Lobo and Amonkar were among the eight who joined BJP in Sep 2022. The Sawant-led coalition govt completed three and a half years in Sep this year.During the first cabinet reshuffle, in Nov 2023, Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral resigned from the cabinet to pave the way for former environment minister Aleixo Sequeira. Sequeira, who was part of Sawant’s cabinet for nearly 22 months, resigned in Aug to make way for a second cabinet reshuffle.Cabral is hoping for a comeback as he resigned on the instruction of the party to keep BJP’s promise to induct Sequeira into the cabinet. During the second cabinet reshuffle, former chief minister and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat and former speaker Ramesh Tawadkar were inducted into the cabinet.