Parrikar visits D'Souza's house

D'Souza, 64, a BJP MLA and former deputy chief minister of Goa, died Thursday at a private hospital here after a prolonged illness.

Parrikar, who has been ailing for the past one year and mostly working from home, visited D'Souza's house in Mapusa around 4 pm. In his condolence message, the chief minister had remembered the departed leader as his "childhood friend".

Thousands of people queued up outside D'Souza's house Friday to pay homage to him.

BJP spokesperson Damu Naik said the final rites will be performed at 3 pm Saturday with state honours.

"Mass will be offered for the departed soul at St Jerome Church at Mapusa on Saturday," Naik said.

Several leaders including ministers Vijai Sardesai and Nilesh Cabral and former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar paid tributes to D'Souza.

"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 was also in touch with them constantly,"

Sardesai said in a statement.