IANS

Panaji, Jun 30: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has appointed Jose Phillip D'Souza as its Goa president, it was announced Tuesday.

Jose Phillip is now the cabinet minister for revenue and civil supplies portfolio in the Congress-led coalition government.

In recent years, the NCP has been in turmoil after the bitter exit of Wilfred de Souza, a former chief minister and the state president of the NCP for nearly a decade.

Jose Phillip and a few members of the executive had resigned from the party in June last year after accusing NCP chief Sharad Pawar of communalism and victimising Christian members.

Jose Phillip's appointment comes at a time when the image of the NCP in Goa is in tatters after one of its senior members, Francisco alias Mickky Pacheco, was accused of culpable homicide after his 28-year-old lover was found dead in mysterious circumstances.

There are presently three NCP legislators in the 40-member Goa assembly.