Francis D'Souza (politician)

This article is about Indian politician. For British politician, see Frances D'Souza, Baroness D'Souza. For Canadian TV news anchor, see Francis D'Souza.

Francisco Casimiro Jerónimo Agnelo Pinto de Souza (4 October 1954^[1] – 14 February 2019), better known as Francis D'Souza, was an Indian lawyer, politician, and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party who served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa from March 2012 to March 2017. He had first unsuccessfully contested in the 1989 Goa Legislative Assembly election from the Mapusa Assembly constituency as an Independent candidate.

Francis D'Souza
D'Souza at IFFI 2016
Deputy Chief Minister of Goa
In office 9 March 2012 – 14 March 2017
Preceded by	Wilfred de Souza
Succeeded by	Sudin Dhavalikar Vijai Sardesai
Constituency	Mapusa
Member of Goa Legislative Assembly
In office 1999–2019
Preceded by	Surendra Sirsat
Succeeded by	Joshua D'Souza
Constituency	Mapusa
Personal details
Born	Francisco Casimiro Jerónimo Agnelo Pinto de Souza (1954-10-04)4 October 1954 Mapuçá, Goa, Portuguese India
Died	14 February 2019(2019-02-14) (aged 64) Panaji, Goa, India
Resting place	St Jerome's Church cemetery, Mapusa, Goa, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party (2002–2019)
Other political affiliations	Goa Rajiv Congress Party (1999–2002)
Children	Joshua D'Souza (son)
Occupation	Lawyer politician

Political career

D'Souza was first elected to the Goa Legislative Assembly in 1999 as the Goa Rajiv Congress Party's candidate and later in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 as the BJP candidate from the Mapusa constituency.^[2] 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.^[3][4]

Controversy

In July 2014, he landed into a controversy after publicly declaring that India is a Hindu nation and he was a Christian-Hindu.^[5]

Death

D'Souza died on 14 February 2019 at the age of 64 following a battle with cancer.^[6]

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
• 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.