Wilfred de Souza (23 April 1927 – 4 September 2015) was a surgeon and politician from Goa, India. He served as Goa's first

Deputy Chief Minister of Goa The Deputy Chief Minister of Goa is a position of the Cabinet in the Government of Goa. There current are two Deputy Chief Minister of Goa Vacant. Deputy Chief Ministers The list of deputy chief ministers in the Indian state of Goa include: Ke ...

and chief minister on three occasions when he was a member of the Indian National Congress and 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 ...

, during his third tenure.

Political career

Dr de Souza is credited, together with allies such as Govind Panvelcar, with the first Congress Party victory in Goa in 1980. From 1963 until 1979 Goan politics had been dominated by the regional parties, particularly the

Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party ( MGP) was Goa's first ruling party after the end of Portuguese rule in Goa in 1961. In the first elections held after the Annexation of Goa by India, it ascended to power in December 1963 and stayed in power t ...

. In July 1998 Dr de Souza formed the

as a splinter group of the INC. He was sworn in as Chief Minister for the third time on 30 July 1998 and remained in the post until 26 November 1998. In 1999, Dr de Souza joined the Nationalist Congress Party and was its Goa president from 1999 to June 2009. During this period he was Deputy Chief Minister in a coalition government with the INC from February 2005 to June 2007. He failed to retain his seat in the 2007 assembly election. After he left the party, Gurunath Kulkarni, national general secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party accused him of impeding the party's growth in Goa. In 2007, he was appointed the Deputy Chairperson of the State Planning Board. For the 2012 assembly election he was a member of the

All India Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cur ...

as head of the Goa branch of the party. During the election, he criticised the INC for corruption.

Background

He was born in Kampala, Uganda on 23 April 1927, to Dr. Tito Fermino de Souza and Alina Ana Maria de Souza, Ugandan Indian parents of

Goan Catholic Goan Catholics ( gom, Goenchem Katholik) are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians following the Roman Rite of worship from the Goa state, in the southern part of the Konkan region along the west coast of India. They are Konkani peo ...

origin and descent who both immigrated from Anjuna, Goa. He died on 4 September 2015 after a brief illness and prior to that, he was admitted in Manipal Hospital.

Educational qualifications

M.B.B.S. (Bombay University); Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, England; Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh; Honorary Fellow of the International College of Surgeons; Fellow of the Association of Surgeons of India.

Awards and achievements

# ''Commander, Grand Cross of the Order of Dom Infante Henriques'' – from the Government of Portugal at the hands of the President of Portugal, H.E.Mario Soares; #

Dr. B. C. Roy Award The Bidhan Chandra Roy Award was instituted in 1962 in memory of Dr. B. C. Roy by the Medical Council of India. It is presented by the President of India in New Delhi every year on July 1, National Doctors' Day. It is also the highest honour tha ...

– as "Eminent Medical Man & Statesman" from the Medical Council of India at the hands of the President of India, H.E. Shri K.R. Narayanan; # The ''Silver Elephant Award'' – for services to Scouts & Guides by the President of India; # ''Sons of India'' – award from the society for Advanced Studies in Medical Sciences at the hands of Swami Brijendramandji, Head Ramkrishna Mission; # ''Jawaharlal Nehru Excellence Award'' – given by Institute of Economic Studies, New Delhi; # ''Indira Gandhi Solidarity Award'' – given by Indian Solidarity Council, New Delhi; Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award, 1992; # ''International Gold Star Award'' – by Industrial Economic Forum, New Delhi; Super Achievers of India Award by Front for National Progress; # ''Glory of India International Award'' – by International Friendship Association of India; # ''Gold Award'' – by Shiromani Institute; In addition, he has worked in several hospitals in the UK 1957–1963; Consultant surgeon to Goa Medical College Panjim; Asilo Hospital Mapuca; Hospicio Hospital Margao; Holy Cross Hospital, Mapuca; C.M.M. Memorial Hospital, Panjim. .

References

External links

Dr. Wilfred A. De Souza & Others vs Shri Tomazinho Cardozo Hon'Ble ... on 7 September 1998
{{DEFAULTSORT:de Souza, Wilfred Goans in science and technology Indian surgeons Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons Goan Catholics Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Deputy chief ministers of Goa Trinamool Congress politicians from Goa Chief Ministers of Goa Indian National Congress politicians from Goa Goa Rajiv Congress Party politicians Ugandan people of Indian descent Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Goa Indian Roman Catholics Ugandan people of Goan descent Dr. B. C. Roy Award winners 1927 births 2015 deaths Chief ministers from Indian National Congress People from Panaji 20th-century Indian medical doctors Medical doctors from Goa Ugandan Roman Catholics