Name Francis Dsouza | Role Politician | |
Francisco Casmiro Jeronimo Agnelo de Pinto e Souza or Francis Dsouza (born October 4, 1954 in Mapusa) is an Indian Politician from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who serves as the Deputy Chief Minister of Indian State of Goa. He contested from Mapusa (Vidhan Sabha constituency) as an independent unsuccessfully in 1989.
He was first elected to Goa Legislative Assembly in 1999 as Goa Su-Raj Party's candidate and later in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 as BJP candidate from Mapusa constituency. 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.
In July 2014, he landed into a controversy after publicly declaring that India is a Hindu nation and he was a Christian-Hindu.