Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant met BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday and both leaders are believed to have held deliberations over a reshuffle in the State Cabinet after 10 Congress MLAs joined the saffron party on Wednesday.
Sawant arrived in the national Capital with the 10 MLAs and has been meeting senior BJP leaders, including its working president JP Nadda.
The meeting comes a day after a group of 10 Congress MLAs in Goa led by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Chandrakant Kavlekar merged with the ruling BJP, increasing the saffron party’s strength to 27 in the 40-seat house.
Sawant has said a decision on dropping any Minister from the coalition partners in the state will be taken after meeting senior BJP leaders, including Shah and party’s working president JP Nadda.
Before his meeting, quizzed on whether any Minister from the allies will be dropped to accommodate the MLAs, Sawant said, “I will not be able to say anything till I meet the leaders.”
The Congress, which emerged as the single-largest party after the 2017 Assembly polls in Goa, is now reduced to five legislators.
Sawant announced on Wednesday evening that two thirds of the Congress Legislative Party — enough to avoid action under the anti-defection law — has merged with the BJP.
The letter of merger was handed over to Speaker Rajesh Patnekar in Sawant’s presence on Wednesday evening.
The induction of 10 Congress MLAs into the BJP in Goa has put a question mark on the fate of the saffron party’s allies, with Chief Minister saying that no decision has been taken about them yet.
With the BJP’s strength in the 40-member Goa Assembly increasing to 27 with two-thirds of Congress legislators joining it, the Sawant government does not need allies’ support any longer.