Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday gave his best wishes to Pramod Sawant, the newly appointed Chief Minister of Goa and expressed confidence that he will boost the state’s growth trajectory.

“Best wishes to Pramod Sawant and his team as they begin their journey towards fulfilling the dreams of the people of Goa.

“I am sure they will build on the work done in the last few years and boost Goa’s growth trajectory,” Modi tweeted

Former Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly BJP MLA Pramod Sawant was sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of Goa on Tuesday, following the death of Manohar Parrikar late on Sunday.

After multiple postponements of the oath ceremony on Monday, the day when his predecessor Manohar Parrikar was cremated with state honours, Sawant was sworn in by Goa governor Mridula Sinha at Raj Bhavan at 1.50 am.

The new government was sworn-in with the support of 20 MLAs, including 11 from the BJP and three each from GFP, MGP and Independents.

The swearing-in of the new Chief Minister, which was scheduled to be held at 11 pm on Monday at the Raj Bhavan was earlier called off.

Political sources said that the decision to cancel the 11 pm swearing-in ceremony was taken because the ongoing discussions which were being conducted by top BJP leaders, including Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, with allied parties vis-a-vis power-sharing and distribution of portfolios had prolonged.

Goa witnessed hectic political activity after Manohar Parrikar passed away on Sunday evening after suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer for over a year.

Gadkari, who began a series of meetings with BJP’s coalition partners since Sunday, finally managed to have a consensus over the leadership of Sawant.

Sawant will now have to prove his majority in the Assembly.

Sawant said his party BJP has given him a big responsibility. Talking to reporters, Sawant credited Parrikar for bringing him into politics.

“Parrikar is not amongst us now and the responsibility has been given collectively to me by my party, alliance partners and independent MLAs. This is a big responsibility. Manohar Parrikar was a visionary leader and he had carried out a great body of work for the state,” Sawant said.

Sawant said he planned to focus on “human and infrastructure development” explaining that Parrikar “did a lot of work for the youth, people and in the social sector through the schemes he conceived.”

“Whatever time is needed I will give for Goa. I and my associates will work on the principle of ‘Antyodaya,’ to reach out to the last person in society,” the 45-year-old said.

Pramod Sawant had a long association with the BJP since his days of active participation in its youth wing which made him a favourable option for the post. Sawant was the president of the Goa BJP youth wing as recently as seven years ago while also holding the charge as the national deputy secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).