Sunday, February 17, 2019
On Thursday, Francis D’Souza, previously the Deputy Chief Minister of the state of Goa, India, died. He had been suffering from cancer. He was 64 years old.
D’Souza had relatively recently been dismissed from being a minister because of his health. He had advanced pancreatic cancer.
Goa’s government announced three days of mourning for D’Souza. Damodar Naik, spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party, said D’Souza had been an “iconic” leader of the party.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar tweeted he was “[e]xtremely pained to hear about the demise of my dear childhood friend, colleague and former Deputy Chief Minister (Dy CM) of Goa advocate Francis D’Souza. A wonderful human being and a leader loved by all. He devoted himself to public service. His demise is a great personal loss”. D’Souza worked with Manohar’s government, being the Deputy Chief Minister.
State Congress President Girish Chodankar called D’Souza “humble and soft-spoken”. The Aam Aadmi Party in Goa, in its statement, said he was a “gentleman politician”.