PANAJI: Former Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane may get a ministerial berth in the state cabinet which is likely to be expanded in the first week of April. A BJP MLA – either Michael Lobo (Calangute) or Nilesh Cabral (Curchorem) – could also be accommodated in the cabinet.
At present, there are ten cabinet ministers, including Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, and two ministerial berths have been lying vacant.
Parrikar has accommodated only two BJP MLAs in the cabinet – Francis D’Souza and Pandurang Madkaikar.
Coalition partners – the Goa Forward Party, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the two Independent MLAs – have been allocated key portfolios.
The GFP has got three berths, while the MGP got two.
The state cabinet will be expanded in the first week of April and two MLAs would be inducted as cabinet ministers, sources said adding that one cabinet berth is likely to go to Rane, who resigned on March 16 as a Congress MLA.
Rane’s entry into the BJP has almost been finalised.
There has been consternation within the BJP over giving more ministerial berths to non-BJP MLAs. The party leadership has been trying its best to pacify the ‘recalcitrant’ MLAs saying that the party ought to provide a stable coalition government.
The matter does not end here. Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho, who had resigned from the Congress and re-elected on BJP ticket, has also been eying a ministerial berth. However, the party leadership has been in favour of giving a cabinet berth either to the Calangute MLA or the Curchorem MLA, as it has almost finalised to make Rane a minister.
Rane has agreed to contest the Valpoi by-poll on BJP ticket if the party accommodates him in the cabinet.
Lobo had been instrumental in getting support of the GFP for formation of BJP-led government under the leadership of Parrikar.
Sources maintained that although Lobo is a frontrunner for cabinet berth the party leadership is of the opinion that some kind of balance should be kept in the state cabinet by giving a berth to one more MLA from South Goa, as the district has less representation in the Parrikar cabinet.