Veteran CPI(M) leader Shyamal Chakraborty dies of COVID-19 at a hospital in Kolkata

Kolkata: Senior CPI(M) leader Shyamal Chakraborty died of COVID-19 at a hospital in Kolkata on Thursday, party sources said. He was 76.

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.


"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.