"I will continue to be the Chief Minister till God wants me to be," Kamat said at Goa airport on his return from New Delhi after four days of hectic parleys to defuse a fresh political crisis to save the Congress-led government.

Kamat said a Cabinet reshuffle would be carried out only after constituting the coordination committee comprising Congress and NCP leaders. This exercise is keenly awaited since there is a clamour from coalition partners for some key portfolios.

"The committee will decide on the portfolios only after detailed deliberations on the issue," the Chief Minister said.

The government was in deep crisis after Congress's alliance partner NCP along with Independents had withdrawn the support on January 16 when the crucial Goa Appropriation Bill 2008 was to have come up in the Assembly.

In a massive troubleshooting exercise, Congress and NCP leadership stepped in to bail out the government. While in Delhi, Kamat said he was relying on God to save his Ministry.

In a blessing in disguise, the Kamat government got a shot in the arm when the two-member Save Goa Front (SGF), a ruling alliance partner, agreed to merge into the Congress.

The Congress' strength in the Assembly increased from 16 to 18 in a House of 40. The strength of the ruling coalition will correspondingly go up to 25 that includes the three-member NCP group.

Kamat said the SGF merger has strengthened the Congress organisation in the state.