Goa: LoP's chair vacant on first day of monsoon session

The Goa Assembly's monsoon session began on Monday with the chair of leader of opposition remaining vacant, while four cabinet ministers attended the House proceedings without being allotted portfolios.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the House that he would be answering questions pertaining to the departments earlier held by the four ministers who have been dropped from the cabinet.

Days after 10 Congress MLAs in Goa joined the BJP, Sawant on Saturday reshuffled his cabinet, dropping three members of the ally Goa Forward Party (GFP) and an Independent legislator as ministers.

Michael Lobo, who resigned as deputy speaker of the Goa Assembly, and three of the 10 MLAs who joined the BJP -- Chandrakant Kavlekar, Jeniffer Monserratte, Philip Neri Rodrigues -- were sworn in as new ministers.

They are yet to be allotted portfolios.

Kavlekar was earlier Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly before he joined the BJP last Wednesday.

After the last week's political developments, the Congress has been reduced to five MLAs in the 40-member House.

Senior Congress member and former chief minister Digambar Kamat told reporters outside the House that the LoP would be elected within next two days.

Earlier, as the House assembled on first day of the monsoon session, Assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekar changed the sitting positions of three GFP members and Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte, who withdrew their support to the Sawant-led government after being dropped from the Cabinet.

GFP members Vijai Sardesai, Vinod Palyekar and Jayesh Salgaonkar, and Khaunte were shifted to the opposition benches along with the five Congress legislators.

When the session began, Patnekar withdrew the questions submitted by Kavlekar, Monserratte and Rodrigues, who have been sworn in as ministers in the state cabinet.