The Congress bagged 21 of the 40 Assembly seats in last week's election, and Faleiro assumed office today with five other Cabinet colleagues. Former chief ministers Ravi Naik and Churchill Alemao, former deptuty chief minister Dayanand Narvekar, outgoing member of the Lok Sabha Fransisco Sardinha and one of the two women MLAs in the house, Nirmala Sawant, were also sworn in.

Former Chief Minister Pratasinh Rane, who refused a place in the Cabinet, will take over as Assembly Speaker. The Speaker plays a strategic role in Goa, which suffers from endemic political instability.

All India Congress Committee General Secretary Madhavrao Scindia, who is in charge of Goa, indicated that two more ministerscould be inducted into the Cabinet. The Congress, in its election manifesto, had promised a six or seven-member Cabinet instead of the jumbo cabinets in vogue till date.

The ministers' portfolios will be announced later, Faleiro told reporters after the swearing-in. Political exigencies in Goa, which forced Faleiro to announce a top-heavy Cabinet have, however, left several former ministers out in the cold. Mauvin Godinho, Somnath Zuwarkar, Subhash Shirodkar and Sanjay Bandekar who held important positions in former Congress administrations have been reduced to being legislators.

Consequently, the fear of Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) striking roots in Goa is growing.