Live updates: New Goa chief minister to be sworn in at 11 pm today, Goa Information Department says

Congress delegation met Governor Mridula Sinha on Monday and said that it should be given the chance to form the government as it is the single largest party in the Assembly.

Image Courtesy: IANS

Hectic parleys are underway for government formation in Goa as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in talks with its alliance partners MGF and GFP to arrive at a consensus over who will be the next Chief Minister of the state. State BJP leaders have confirmed that a decision on the name of the CM will be taken by 2 pm and swearing in will take place after 3 pm on Monday.

Union minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari had rushed to Goa and held a meeting with GFP and MGP on Sunday which continued through the night. On Monday again, BJP MLA Vishwajit Rane, MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar, both of whom are aspirants for the CM post met Gadkari. However, leaders of GFP were not called for the meeting.

The Goa Assembly has a strength of 40 members but currently, there are 36 MLAs following the death of two BJP legislators, Manohar Parrikar and Francis D'Souza, and the resignation of two Congress lawmakers. The majority mark in Goa Assembly at present is 19. Congress is the single largest party in the state with 14 MLAs. The BJP has 12 legislators in the 40-member Goa assembly. The GFP, MGP and Independents have three MLAs each while the NCP has one legislator.

18 March 2019

21:27 IST

New Goa chief minister will be sworn in at 11 pm on Monday, PTI reported.

20:20 IST

BJP President Amit Shah told reporters that talks are still on regarding selection of the next chief minister of Goa. He added that Union minister Nitin Gadkari will hold more talks with allies over this matter and a consensus will be reached soon.