Nilesh Cabral

Nilesh Cabral (born 10 July 1972) is an Indian politician and a cabinet Minister in the Government of Goa headed by Manohar Parrikar.^[8] He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and represents the Curchorem constituency in the Goa Legislative Assembly.^[9] Cabral holds the portfolios of Power, Non-Conventional Energy, Law & Judiciary as well as Legislative Affairs.^[10]

Personal life

Nilesh Cabral was born on 10 July 1972.^[11] An engineer,^[12] Cabral earned a Diploma in Minining and Mine Surveying from the Government Polytechnic, Panaji in 1992.^[13]

By profession, Cabral is a transport contractor as well as barge owner.^[14] He owns several trucks and earth moving machines.^[15]

Career

Cabral was once a close confidante of Shyam Satardekar and also worked for the latter's victory in the 2007 Goa Legislative Assembly election. But later, differences arose between Satardekar and Cabral.^[16] Cabral first contested the 2012 Goa Legislative Assembly election from Curchorem as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party, defeating Shyam Satardekar of the Indian National Congress. In 2012, Cabral was seen as an "outsider" as he did not belong to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh cadre.^[17] After his victory in the 2012 Goa Legislative Assembly election, Nilesh Cabral was appointed the Chairman of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation. He served in this position from 24 April 2012 to 9 January 2017.^[18]

He successfully contested the 2017 Goa Legislative Assembly election and was elected from the Curchorem constituency as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.^[19] He was once again appointed the Chairman of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation in April 2017 and continues to hold that post.^[20]

Since 24 September 2018, Cabral is the Cabinet Minister of Power, Non-Conventional Energy, Law & Judiciary as well as Legislative Affairs^[21] in the Government of Goa.

References