Pramod Sawant, currently the Speaker of the Goa Assembly, will be the next Chief Minister of the state and will succeed Manohar Parrikar who passed away after a prolonged illness on Sunday.

State BJP leaders confirmed that Sawant's name has been finalised for the post and an official announcement regarding this will be made soon. Sources told Zee Media that the exact time of oath taking ceremony was being finalised.

Earlier today, Goa BJP chief Vinay Tendulkar said that the decision on who shall be the next Chief Minister of Goa would be taken by 2 pm while the swearing-in would take place after 3 pm.

Union minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, who landed in Goa late past midnight, held talks with party leaders and alliance partner Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) to select a new Goa chief minister following the death of Parrikar.

The BJP-led coalition in Goa began discussions on Sunday night to find a new leader to replace Parrikar, who had died earlier in the evening. Parrikar, 63, was heading a coalition government comprising the BJP, the Goa Forward Party (GFP), the MGP and Independents.

Meanwhile, all 14 Congress MLAs in Goa were on the way to Raj Bhawan on Monday to meet Governor Mridula Sinha to stake claim to form the government in the state following the demise of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) met in Panaji in the morning.

The leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said the party MLAs decided to walk to the Raj Bhawan uninvited after the governor refused to give them an appointment.

The opposition party had written to her, staking claim to form the government on Friday and then again on Sunday.

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.