Gomantak Party by merging the Bhausaheb Bandodkar Gomantak Party into the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. The 1989 elections The 1989 elections to the first Goa State Legislative Assembly were held for 40 constituencies on 22 November 1989. Since the Indian National Congress managed to achieve a wafer-thin majority with 21 seats, Pratapsingh Rane was elected as the Chief Minister of Goa by the Congress Legislature Party. Rane was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of the newly established State of Goa on 11 January 1990. Rane faced a dilemma as there were too many aspirants for ministerial posts. Dr. Luis Proto Barbosa reluctantly accepted the Speaker's post. Rane decided to expand his cabinet in two phases and assured his legislators that he would soon expand the Cabinet after the Budget Session. But Rane' strategy did not succeed and his promise of expanding the Cabinet after the Budget Session in March 1990 was shattered as a group of seven MLAs led by Speaker Barbosa split from the Indian National Congress to christen itself as the Goa People's Party (GPP). The GPP staked claim to form a new Ministry with the support of the 18 Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLAs and Independent MLA Ananta Narcinva (Babu) Naik. The GPP consisted of MLAs dissatisfied due to their exclusion from the Cabinet and included Dr. Luis Proto Barbosa (Speaker), Churchill Alemao, Farrel Furtado, Mauvin Godinho, Somnath Zuwarkar, Luis Alex (Mama) Cardozo and John Baptist Gonsalves. The coalition government of the GPP, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and an Independent was named as the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) Government. After a hectic political transition by making Churchill Alemao the interim Chief Minister of Goa on 27 March 1980 for a period of just 17 days (Alemao was the Chief Minister from 27 March 1980 to 13 April 1990) and appointing Ramakant Khalap as the Deputy Chief Minister, Speaker Barbosa was made the Chief Minister of Goa. Union Minister George Fernandes played an instrumental role in the formation of the PDF Government. Dr. Luis Proto Barbosa resigned as the Speaker and was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Goa on 13 April 1990. Shashikala Kakodkar was sworn in as a Minister in the cabinet headed by Dr. Barbosa. Kakodkar was allotted the portfolios of Education, Art & Culture, Transport and Fisheries. Contribution as Education Minister Kakodkar's tenure as Education Minister is widely noted for her policy on the