Kolkata: West Bengal Sports and Transport Minister and senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Subhas Chakraborty died in a hospital on Monday, party officials said. He was 68.
The death was announced by Chairman of West Bengal's ruling Left Front, Biman Bose. The CPI-M is the major partner in the Left Front.
"I'm not in a mental state to say much to you. Our beloved comrade Subhash Chakrabarti has left us. The media should not create a ruckus today. I beg of you," Bose said.
He is survived by his wife and a son.
Chakraborty, who had been on ventilator support at a private hospital, slipped into a coma earlier on Monday, a hospital spokesman said.
He had been admitted to the AMRI Hospital in the satellite township of Salt Lake last Tuesday with lung and kidney disorders besides severe heart problems. He was not responding to treatment, medical superintendent Debashish Sharma had said.
Party sources said Chakraborty was also in advanced stage of cancer, but the hospital did not confirm it.
The minister was given blood transfusion on Sunday night for increasing his platelet count and also underwent dialysis.
"But these interventions did not yield the desired results," Sharma said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, other senior CPI-M leaders and sportspersons visited the hospital Monday morning. A large number of admirers of the popular leader have also assembled at the hospital.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - IANS)