Goa MLA Sankalp Amonkar was sworn in as a minister in Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s cabinet on Saturday, filling the vacancy left by the death of agriculture minister Ravi Naik. Governor Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr Amonkar at Lok Bhavan in Dona Paula, with the Chief Minister present at the ceremony.
Mr Amonkar, who represents the Mormugao Assembly constituency, is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. A former Congress leader, he becomes the twelfth minister in the Sawant cabinet, which now returns to full strength ahead of the Goa Assembly elections expected in February 2027.
The ministerial post had fallen vacant after veteran Goa politician Ravi Naik died on October 15, 2025. Mr Naik, a former chief minister, had held the agriculture portfolio, and his death left a gap in the cabinet that the government has now filled with just months to go before the state goes to the polls.
The timing of the induction is significant. With the assembly elections only months away, the BJP is shoring up its team in the state, and the choice of Mr Amonkar, who holds the politically important Mormugao seat, is seen as part of that preparation. Mormugao, with its port and industrial base, is one of the state’s most closely watched constituencies.
Mr Amonkar’s political journey adds interest to the appointment. He began in the Congress before switching to the BJP, a path taken by several Goan politicians in recent years as the state’s politics has realigned. His induction gives the cabinet a representative from the port town at a time when the government is pushing infrastructure and tourism projects in the region. Party workers in Mormugao welcomed the decision, saying the constituency, which hosts the state’s only major port and a large industrial belt, had long deserved a voice at the cabinet table.
The Sawant government will now head into the election season with a full cabinet. The BJP, which has governed Goa since 2012 with brief interruptions, will seek another term in February, facing a Congress that is hoping to rebuild and regional parties that have been gaining ground.
For Mr Amonkar, the oath marks a new chapter. From MLA to minister in the months before an election, he will be expected to deliver on the government’s promises in his constituency and beyond, and his performance will be judged by voters sooner than most ministers get. The portfolio he receives, yet to be formally announced, will indicate where the Chief Minister sees him fitting into the government’s plans.
