Goa NCP gets a new President

NCP today appointed MLA and minister Joseph Philip D'Souza as President of its Goa unit.

"NCP President Sharad Pawar, in consultation with Praful Patel, in-charge of Goa, has appointed Joseph Philip D'Souza as President of Goa NCP with immediate effect," according to a statement received by the state unit of the party from New Delhi.

D'Souza is revenue minister in the Congress-led Digamber Kamat government.

He replaces former Minister Carmo Pegado, who was officiating as State NCP chief after Wilfred D'Souza resigned from the post in June 2009.

Goa NCP faced a major rebellion last year when a majority of its Executive Committee members resigned demanding that the party be merged with Congress.

Pawar formed NCP in 1998 after quitting Congress over Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin issue.