Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, former chief minister of West Bengal and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, passed away around 8:20 am on Thursday in Kolkata after a prolonged illness. He was 80.

Bhattacharjee breathed his last at his residence in Kolkata’s Ballygunge. He is survived by his wife Meera and son Suchetan.

During the 34 years of Left Front rule in West Bengal, Bhattacharjee was the second CPM chief minister after Jyoti Basu and was in office for 11 consecutive years from 2000 to 2011.

He had served as an MLA and a state minister and was later elevated to Deputy Chief Minister post before Basu stepped down in 2000.

In the 2011 West Bengal Assembly elections, CPM lost to Trinamool Congress, marking the end of 34 years of rule of the CPM-led Left Front in West Bengal.

In 2015, Bhattacharjee stepped down from the CPI(M)’s Politburo and Central Committee and in 2018 he gave up membership of the party’s state secretariat in 2018.

Before joining politics full-time, Bhattacharjee was a school teacher. He was an alumnus of Kolkata’s Presidency College.

Last year in July, Bhattacharjee was admitted to a private hospital in Alipore with multiple ailments. He was being treated for pneumonia and had to be put on ventilation.

He was diagnosed with lower respiratory tract infection and ‘Type 2’ respiratory failure. He had been suffering from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and other age-related ailments.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee condoled the demise of Bhattacharjee and in a post on X, she said that she had known him for decades and visited him at home a few times when he was ill in the last few years.

“I feel very sad right now. My sincere condolences to Meeradi and Suchetan in this time of bereavement. My sincere condolences to all CPI (M) party members, supporters and all their followers,” she said in a post in Bengali.

Over the last few years, Bhattacharjee stayed away from the public glare due to his dwindling health and spent most of his time in his Palm Avenue apartment.

Bhattacharjee was last seen in public when he surprised party workers by arriving unannounced at the Left’s rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, with oxygen support.

With inputs from agencies

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West Bengal ex-CM & CPM leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee passes away in Kolkata at 80