Former Congress MLA and minister Aleixo Sequeira, who joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in September last year with seven other Congress lawmakers, was on Sunday sworn in as a minister by Goa governor P S Sreedharan Pillai.

Sequeira takes the place of minister for public works Nilesh Cabral, who tendered his resignation on Sunday at the request of the high command so that his party can keep its commitment given to the Congress camp of MLAs who were then undecided over switching over to the BJP. Sequeira said he was indebted to chief minister Pramod Sawant and would try his best to fulfil whatever responsibilities are given to him.

Eight Congress MLAs shifted to the BJP in September last year, and despite speculation that at least three of them would be accommodated in the state cabinet, no decision was taken by Sawant. Among the aspirants for a place in the cabinet were former Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat, former minister Michael Lobo and Sequeira.

Cabral said that being a loyal worker of the party who has risen up the ranks, he agreed to step down from his position. “Whenever the party asks, only the original loyal workers are approached. Because I am an original karyakarta (worker), the party can ask me. That is why I did not hesitate to give what the party required,” Cabral said.

Sawant said the decision to induct Sequeira was taken based on a commitment given to him at the time he switched over to the BJP. “The party and I requested Cabral to hand over this resignation and this morning he met me and handed over his resignation. I have recommended to the governor that his resignation be accepted. It is a decision of the party. He is a core member of the party. When there is a sacrifice to be made, then a core member of the party only does it. Hence, the party requested him to do it,” Sawant said.

On Saturday, reports emerged suggesting an impending reshuffle in the Goa cabinet. Sequeira was seen as being among those reluctant to join the BJP last year, placing the switch over in peril as the breakaway group wouldn’t have met the necessary two-thirds to avoid action under the anti-defection law.

Congress MLA Carlos Ferreira, however, said the decision to drop Cabral from the cabinet posed more questions than it answered.

“Has Cabral paid for his super-loyalty or due to alleged PWD recruitment scam? If government scraps recent PWD JE (junior engineer) recruitment, it will prove that the rumours by BJP bhakts (followers) of allegations of large scale corruption in PWD jobs preceding Nilesh Cabral’s resignation (were) used as an excuse to claim honouring commitments,” Ferreira said referring to reports that Cabral was being dropped due to unhappiness in BJP ranks over the recruitment process, reports that both the chief minister and Cabral have denied.