Ramesh Tawadkar, Digambar Kamat sworn in as ministers in Goa cabinet

Panaji: BJP MLAs Ramesh Tawadkar and Digambar Kamat were sworn in as ministers in the Goa cabinet led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday.

Governor Ashok Gajapathi Raju administered the oath of secrecy to Kamat and Tawadkar at a function in Raj Bhavan attended by Sawant, BJP Goa unit president Damu Naik and others.

Hours before the swearing-in, Tawadkar resigned as the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly.

The 57-year-old BJP leader represents the Canacona assembly constituency. He was first elected to the assembly in 2005 through a bypoll from the Poinguinim seat in South Goa.

He was re-elected from the same constituency in 2007. After delimitation, Tawadkar contested and won from the Canacona segment in 2012 and again in 2022. He had lost the contest in 2017.

Tawadkar earlier served as a cabinet minister from April 2012 till January 2017 and had handled portfolios, including agriculture, animal husbandry and veterinary services, tribal welfare and sports and youth affairs.

He was elected as the Goa Speaker in March 2022, becoming the first tribal MLA to hold the post in the coastal state.

The second minister, Digambar Kamat, was the Congress chief minister of Goa from 2007 to 2012.

The 71-year-old legislator from Margao constituency began his political journey with the Indian National Congress (1989–1994, 2005–2022). He later joined the BJP in September 2022.

Kamat was first elected to the assembly from Margao in 1994 and has represented the constituency several times since.

In the 2022 elections, he won from Margao as a Congress nominee but switched to the BJP along with seven other MLAs on September 14, 2022.