Panaji: Goa’s former Deputy Chief Minister and Current BJP MLA Francis D’Souza passed away on Thursday evening.
D’Souza, 64, was undergoing treatment at a private hospital near here after undergoing surgery for Cancer at the hospital in the USA.
“I am deeply saddened by the news of demise of ex-Deputy CM Francis D’Souza. I extend my deepest sympathies to his family. May the departed soul be at peace. RIP,” South Goa Member of Parliament Narendra Sawaikar tweeted annoucing the bad news.
BJP Goa Spokesman Damodar Naik said that D’Souza passed away while at the hospital this evening.
“I offer my condolences to his family. We lost iconic leader who started his careeer from scratch from councillor to topmost post,” Naik said.
“His contribution to BJP is immense. The role he played 2005 to 2012 in achievement of BJP can’t be forgotten. He is icon for all the upcoming leaders on how the person should be, and he was loyal to the party till his last breathe,” he said.
D’Souza, who has been ailing for some months now, was dropped from the State cabinet along with his colleague Pandurang Madkaikar on health ground. His was removed from the cabinet when he was being treated in the USA.
He was elected to Goa Legislative Assembly in the year 1999 as Goa Rajiv Congress party candidate and later shifted to BJP to get elected to the STate legislative assembly in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 from Mapusa constituency.
D’Souza was appointed as Deputy Chief Minister when BJP formed a government in the year 2012 first under Manohar Parrikar’s leadership and then under Laxmikant Parsekar as the Chief Minister.
