‘Goan politics stalwart’ who had stints as CM and MP, Ravi Naik dies at 79
PM Narendra Modi offered his condolences, and said Ravi Naik will be "remembered as an experienced administrator and dedicated public servant who enriched Goa’s development trajectory".
Former Goa chief minister and BJP leader Ravi Naik 
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Former Goa chief minister and BJP leader Ravi Naik died at a private hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest late Tuesday. He was 79.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences. “Saddened by the passing away of Shri Ravi Naik Ji, Minister in the Goa Government. He will be remembered as an experienced administrator and dedicated public servant who enriched Goa’s development trajectory. He was particularly passionate about empowering the downtrodden and marginalised. My thoughts are with his family and supporters in this hour of grief. Om Shanti,” he said.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said Naik was a “stalwart of Goan politics” who left an indelible mark on the state’s governance and people.
In a post on X, Sawant said, “Deeply saddened by the demise of our senior leader and Cabinet Minister Shri Ravi Naik Ji. A stalwart of Goan politics, his decades of dedicated service as Chief Minister and Minister across key portfolios have left an indelible mark on the state’s governance and people. His leadership, humility and contribution to public welfare will always be remembered.”
Hailing from the numerically strong Bhandari community, Naik was a veteran politician and remained a prominent figure in the state’s politics for several decades across parties. He served as the chief minister of Goa for more than two years in the early 1990s, from 1991 to 1993, and for six days in 1994.
An ace volleyball player in his youth, Naik entered politics and became a councillor of the Ponda municipal council. He began his political career with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), and was elected as an MLA for the first time in 1984 from the Ponda constituency. In 1991, a group of seven MGP MLAs – led by Naik – split from MGP and joined the Congress.
The seven-time MLA also had a brief stint as a Member of Parliament (MP) from North Goa between 1998 and 1999. In 2000, Naik quit the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), serving as the deputy chief minister in the Manohar Parrikar-led government.
Ahead of the 2002 Goa Assembly elections, he quit the saffron party and returned to the Congress. During the last Congress government in the state, when Digambar Kamat was the chief minister, Naik served as the home minister.
Naik joined the BJP for the second time in December 2021. He won from the Ponda constituency, and was sworn in as a minister in the Sawant-led BJP government. He had been holding the portfolios of Agriculture, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and Handicrafts, Textiles and Coir.
During his stint as the home minister under the Kamat-led government, Naik courted controversy after the mother of a murdered British teenager deposed before a children’s court, claiming that Naik’s son, Roy Naik, was among those who supplied drugs to her daughter. Scarlett Keeling, a British teenager, was found dead on the Anjuna beach in Goa in 2008.
Naik was also among the politicians who had been vocal about the demand for a third district in the state. In January 2021, he moved a private member’s resolution in the Goa Assembly, demanding the constitution of a third revenue district comprising the Sattari, Ponda, and Dharbandora talukas.
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