BJP's Manohar Parrikar takes oath as Goa CM

NEW DELHI: Technocrat-turned-politician Manohar Parrikar of BJP was sworn in as chief minister of Goa on Friday at a ceremony in Panaji attended by the party's top leaders.

This is Parrikar's third stint as chief minister, but the first after the party has secured a majority in an assembly election.

BJP won 21 seats in the 40-member assembly while the Maharashtra Gomantak Party with which it had an alliance secured three. The BJP-led alliance, which defeated the Congress-NCP combine, also has the support of two independents taking its strength to 26.

Goa governor K Sankaranarayanan, administered the oath to Parrikar. Dayanand Mandrekar, Laxmikant Parsekar, Matanhy Saldana and Francis D'souza of BJP too were sworn in as ministers along with MGP's Ramakrishna Dhavalikar.

BJP secured 9% Christian votes, after fielding 7 Catholics, of which 5 won. D'Souza had a record winning margin of 10,169 votes from Mapusa. BJP used the corruption plank to wean away Catholics from Congress. Eight out of 12 members of Digambar Kamat's cabinet lost the polls.