Francisco Cosme Sardinha (born 15 April 1946) is an Indian politician, who is serving as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP), representing South Goa Lok Sabha constituency. Prior to that, he served as the Chief Minister of Goa from 24 November 1999 to 23 October 2000 and as the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly from February 2005 to June 2007. He is a senior leader of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

party having won 6 times as MLA from

Curtorim Curtorim is a town in the Salcette taluka of South Goa district in Goa, India.It comes under Margao metropolitan region. Curtorim, a verdant agrarian village, known as the "granary of Salcete", is said to have got its name from either ' or ' si ...

assembly and 4 times as Lok Sabha MP from South Goa constituency.

Personal life

Mr Francisco Sardinha was born on 15 April 1946 in

South Goa district South Goa district is one of two districts that comprises the state of Goa, India, within the region known as the Konkan. It is bounded by North Goa district to the north, the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state to the east and south, whil ...

to Mr Caetano Sardinha and Mrs Rosa Maria Sardinha. He is married to Mrs Maria Columba Sardinha since 23 May 1976 and has 3 sons.

Political career

Sardinha was a member of the Goa Legislative Assembly from 1977–1994. He held many portfolios in the Government of Goa under the Chief Ministership of Shri Pratapsing Rane. He was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 from Mormugao constituency in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. He again became a member of the Goa Legislative Assembly in 1999 and remained in office till 2007. In 1999, he broke away from the

and formed a new political party, the Goa People's Congress, and became Chief minister of a coalition government in the state. He remained in office till 2000. Later, Sardinha's GPC merged with Indian National Congress on 5 April 2001. He became Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly in 2005. He was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha in a by-election in November, 2007 from Mormugao. He was re-elected to the 15th Lok Sabha in 2009 from South Goa constituency. Mr. Sardinha is credited with many pioneering contributions in Goa's development especially in education, agriculture, and sports. In his last term as Member of Parliament (2009–2014), he was appointed Chairman of the Estimates Committee, the most prestigious committee of Lok Sabha. He was the 25th Chairman of the Committee since 1950 and one of the five longest-serving Chairmen.

Positions held

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sardinha, Francisco 1946 births Living people People from South Goa district Chief Ministers of Goa India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 2009–2014 India MPs 2019–present Lok Sabha members from Goa Speakers of the Goa Legislative Assembly Indian National Congress politicians from Goa