Veteran Communist leader Jyoti Basu dead

Kolkata, Jan 17 (ANI): Veteran Marxist leader and former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu died at the AMRI Hospital of multiple-organ failure at 11.47 a.m. on Sunday. He was 95.

Basu was admitted to the hospital on January 1 with acute respiratory failure bordering on pneumonia. He was also undergoing treatment at the hospital for age-related ailments.

On Friday, doctors at the hospital said in a medical bulletin that his condition was very critical and hope for his survival was receding.

Basu served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for 24 years from 1977 to 2000.

Born on July 8, 1914, Jyoti Kiran Basu's name was shortened by his father to Jyoti.

In 1996, Basu seemed all set to become the first Communist Prime Minister of India. However, the CPI (M) Politburo decided not to participate in the government, a decision that Basu later termed as a historic blunder. (ANI)