Kolkata: Senior CPI(M) leader Shyamal Chakraborty died of COVID-19 at a hospital in Kolkata on Thursday, party sources said. He was 76.
CPI(M) expresses its deep sadness at the demise of Shyamal Chakraborty. Comrade Shyamal was a veteran trade union leader, former minister and Central Committee member of the CPI(M). Today the working class and the left movement in the country has lost an important voice. pic.twitter.com/FieF0JM5c5
— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) August 6, 2020
Chakraborty, the three-time transport minister of West Bengal from 1982 to 1996, was admitted to the hospital after he tested positive for COVID-19 on July 30.
He was also a two-time Rajya Sabha member and a veteran trade unionist and state secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions.
"He died this afternoon. He was on ventilation for the last few days," a party leader said.
He is survived by daughter Ushasi Chakraborty, an actor.
Chakraborty is the second notable politician from the state to die of COVID-19. Trinamool Congress MLA Tamonash Ghosh succumbed to the contagion in June.
On Wednesday, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation councillor Subhash Bose also died of COVID-19.