Why Congress turncoat Sankalp Amonkar's Goa ministership sparked Opposition outcry

The Opposition says the BJP rewarded Amonkar to lure more Congress leaders to defect in the run-up to Goa assembly electionsAssembly elections just months away, the BJP has expanded its cabinet in Goa to induct Congress turncoat Sankalp Amonkar as agriculture minister. Amonkar will be the 12th minister in the Dr Pramod Sawant government.The inclusion fills the vacancy created by the demise of BJP veteran Ravi Naik, who held the portfolio even as the Opposition accuses the BJP of luring more Congress leaders to defect.Amonkar's inclusion is seen as fulfilment of a promise made to eight Congress MLAs who had crossed over to the BJP soon after the Goa assembly polls in 2022. Earlier, Nuvem MLA Alexio Sequeira was appointed environment minister after getting PWD minister Nilesh Cabral to resign. In August 2024, Sequeira quit on health grounds and was replaced by former chief minister Digambar Kamat, who was given the PWD portfolio. Assembly speaker Rajesh Tawadkar was brought in as tribal development minister in place of Govind Gaude, who had accused the government of corruption.Before joining the Congress, Amonkar had Sangh Parivar links as a worker of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He has been Goa president of the Youth Congress. Amonkar was elected MLA from Mormugao in 2022. He defeated former BJP minister Milind Naik, who represented the constituency for three terms. Amonkar is an OBC and second-generation politician. He is also a businessman. In September 2022, eight of the 11 Congress MLAs, including Kamat, then leader of the Opposition Michael Lobo and Amonkar, defected to the BJP. Amonkar was appointed to a sinecure on the Goa Bal Bhavan, but did not take charge. Last year, he was made chairman of the Sewerage and Infrastructural Development Corporation of Goa Limited.Amonkar will be the second minister in the cabinet from the Mormugao taluka, which has four seats in the legislative assembly and a significant number of Catholic and Muslim voters. The other minister is Mauvin Godinho.Amonkar has been accused of muscle-flexing in the Mormugao port and purportedly caught on camera describing himself as a “goonda”. Before the 2022 elections, a sting operation allegedly showed him offering to defect for a consideration. He has strongly refuted the charges.Valmiki Naik, president of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Goa, claimed the BJP had made Amonkar a cabinet minister to send a feeler to more Congress leaders to defect. He said the BJP had made it evident to potential defectors that they would be handsomely rewarded.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends