The BJP on Monday chose Speaker Pramod Sawant as the next chief minister of Goa and agreed to have two deputy chief ministers, buckling before allies to retain the government and keeping in mind the upcoming general election.

Sawant, 45, an Ayurveda practitioner, is known to have been an acolyte of Manohar Parrikar who passed away on Sunday.

The BJP finalised young Sawant’s candidature after hectic negotiations with the two alliance partners, the Goa Forward Party and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, on whose support the government’s survival hinges. The BJP lacks a majority of its own. The Congress is the single largest party in the Assembly.

The backroom negotiations continued amid the mourning of Parrikar’s passing on Sunday evening. Union minister Nitin Gadkari was sent to the state on Sunday.

Realising the BJP’s dependence on their support, the two partners, who have three MLAs each, drove a hard bargain and agreed to support Sawant only after getting their pound of flesh in the form of the deputy chief ministers.

Vijay Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party and Sudhin Dhavalikar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party will be the deputy chief ministers in the Sawant-led coalition government. Currently, the strength of the 40-member Goa Assembly stands reduced to 36 with four vacant seats, including the one represented by Parrikar. The BJP has 12 members in the Assembly. Along with the allies and Independents, the BJP-led coalition’s strength stands at 21, three more than the halfway mark of 18.

The BJP caved in to the allies’ pressure to try and stop the Congress from coming to power. The Congress, the single largest party with 14 members, had staked claim to form the government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah were in Goa on Monday to attend Parrikar’s funeral. Shah, according to sources, cleared the acceptance of the two allies’ demand, realising the importance of retaining the state ahead of the general election.

Although Goa has only two Lok Sabha seats, BJP leaders said they were not willing to take chances, given Shah’s drive for a bigger victory in 2019 compared with 2014.At one point, BJP insiders said, the allies were demanding the chief minister’s post.

Not willing to let Goa slip away, the BJP rushed Union minister Nitin Gadkari to the state on Sunday. Despite the mourning, Gadkari held late-night meetings with the alliance partners and Independents to ensure the party retains the government.

Gadkari was said to be instrumental in cobbling together the coalition in 2017, too, when the BJP fell short of the majority mark.