Francisco Casimiro Jerónimo Agnelo Pinto de Souza known as Francis Dsouza (4 October 1954 – 14 February 2019) was an Indian Politician from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who served as the Deputy Chief Minister of the Indian State of Goa. He contested from Mapusa (Vidhan Sabha constituency) as an independent unsuccessfully in 1989.

Political career

D'Souza was first elected to the

Goa Legislative Assembly The Goa Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the state of Goa in India. The Assembly meets at the Goa State Legislative Assembly Complex in Porvorim, Bardez. The Eighth Goa Legislative Assembly consists of 40 members. The asse ...

in 1999 as the

Goa Rajiv Congress Party Goa Rajiv Congress Party (GRCP), was a splinter group of Indian National Congress in Goa. It was founded in 1998 by Wilfred de Souza. It formed a coalition state government with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, with ...

's candidate and later in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 as the BJP candidate from the Mapusa constituency. He was appointed Deputy Chief Minister when BJP formed a government in 2012 under Manohar Parrikar's leadership and remained Deputy Chief Minister when Laxmikant Parsekar became the Chief Minister. He was also front-runner to succeed Manohar Parrikar as the chief minister.

Controversy

In July 2014, he landed into a controversy after publicly declaring that India is a Hindu nation and he was a ''Christian-Hindu''.

Death

D'Souza died on 14 February 2019 at the age of 64 following a battle with cancer.

Positions held

* 1985 - Elected as the Councillor of Mapusa Municipal Council. * 1986-1988 - President of Mapusa Municipal Council. * 1995 - Elected as the Councillor of Mapusa Municipal Council. * 1998-2000 Chairman of Mapusa Municipal Council. * 1999 - Cabinet Minister of Law, Election and Urban Development * 2000-2002 - Cabinet Minister of Judiciary and Labour & Employment till * 2002-2005 - Cabinet Minister of Information Technology, Law & Judiciary, Legislative Affairs and Craftsmen Training. * 2012-2014 - Cabinet Minister of Urban Development, Revenue and Craftsmen Training * 2014-2019 - Deputy Chief Minister, Cabinet Minister of Health, Revenue, Town and Country Planning, Urban Development and Law, Legislative Affairs * 2017-2019 - Cabinet Minister of Urban Development, Law and Judiciary, Legislative Affairs and Provedoria.

References

1954 births 2019 deaths Deputy chief ministers of Goa People from Mapusa Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Goa Goa MLAs 1999–2002 Goa MLAs 2002–2007 Goa MLAs 2007–2012 Goa MLAs 2012–2017 Goa MLAs 2017–2022 Goa Rajiv Congress Party politicians Indian Roman Catholics {{Goa-BJP-politician-stub