Panaji: While completing six years on the chair on Wednesday (March 19), Pramod Sawant is the longest and continuous serving chief minister of the state, surpassing the records of leaders like Manohar Parrikar and Digambar Kamat.
The 51-year-old MLA from Sankhalim Assembly constituency took oath as the chief minister of the state on March 19, 2019 after the demise of Manohar Parrikar.
Sawant took oath as the chief minister at 2 am at Raj Bhavan, Dona Paula after the final rites were conducted on Parrikar at Miramar beach.
Then 45-year-old politician was Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly when he took oath as the chief minister.
Under his leadership, the Bharatiya Janata Party won Goa Legislative Assembly elections on 20 out of 40 seats and went on to take oath again on March 28, 2022.
Sawant has continued to be longest and continuous serving chief minister with a tenure spanning over six years, though his total tenure is less than that of Manohar Parrikar who ruled the state for eight years and 349 days after being sworn in thrice (2000, 2012 and 2017) as the chief minister, with a gap in between.
Sawant has presented five State Budgets till date and will be presenting the sixth budget on March 26 during the upcoming Assembly session which starts on March 24.
Goa which has witnessed political instability since it gained statehood in the year 1987, then congress leader Digambar Kamat became the only chief minister to complete his five year tenure.
After statehood, Goa saw some of its chief ministers having shortest tenure in the chair. While Ravi Naik was the chief minister for six days in April 1994 before being toppled by late Dr Wilfred D’Souza in a political coup, Churchill Alemao has a record of being chief minister for 18 days in the year 1990.
