Mapusa: Thousands of people queued at the private residence of former Goa Deputy Chief Minister and current BJP Legislator Francis D’Souza to pay homage to their leader.
BJP Goa Spokesman Damu Naik said that the final rites on the body of D’Souza would be performed on Saturday at 3 p.m.
“The state honour would be given to him. There will be mass offered for the departed soul at St Jerome Church at Mapusa on Saturday,” he said.
Several leaders including State Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral, former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and others paid tribute to the leader.
“Francis or Babush as I knew him, was a man of simple living and high thinking who not only understood the mind of the masses but also was in touch with them constantly,” Sardesai has said in a statement released here.
“A man of integrity and honesty, he practiced what he preached, and stood for his word, a symbol of loyalty, a glowing personification of Goemkarponn that needs to be emulated by all of us; especially the youth,” he said.
“I hope to see these stellar qualities of the father in the son Joshua as he should take the unforgettable social work Babush has done for the people of Goa, forward. I join him and the rest of the family in their grief,” Sardesai added.
D’Souza 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.
