Former West Bengal Chief Minister and veteran left leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya passed away in Kolkata at the age of 80. Bhattacharya had been battling age-related ailments for a considerable period and was taken to hospitals multiple times in the recent past.
CPI(M) state secretary Mohd Salim confirmed the news of the demise of former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
In recent years, the former Chief Minister withdrew from public life due to health issues. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya stepped down from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] politburo and central committee in 2015, and later gave up his membership in the state secretariat in 2018.
The Left leader became the Chief Minister of West Bengal in 2000, succeeding party veteran Jyoti Basu, and remained in office until 2011. His tenure was notable for agitations over land acquisition for industrial projects, led by the current Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. In 2011, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya lost the assembly election to Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), ending the CPI(M)-led Left Front’s 34-year rule in the state.
He was last seen in public in 2019 when he unexpectedly attended a Left rally at Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata with oxygen support, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
