Parrikar inducts six new ministers in Goa

Panaji, April 8 (IANS) Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar inducted six new ministers in his cabinet at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan Sunday.

Goa Governor K. Sankaranarayanan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Ramesh Tavadkar, Mahadev Naik, Deelip Parulekar and Milind Naik (all BJP) and Pandurang alias Deepak Dhavlikar (MGP) and Avertino Furtado (Independent)

All the four BJP ministers are two-time members of the 40-seat Goa assembly. While Deepak Dhavalikar's brother Sudin is already a minister in the Goa government, Avertino Furtablo was one of the two Christian candidates who had been supported by the BJP in the March polls.

The expansion takes the cabinet size of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government to 11, one short of the upper limit.

On March 9, Parrikar had been sworn in with five others, but lost tourism minister Mathany Saldanha, who died of a massive cardiac arrest a few days later.