Kolkata:  Veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Jyoti Basu died after a prolonged illness. 95 years old has straddled Indian politics for over six decades.

I have to give you a sad news that Jyoti Basu is no longer with us,” Biman Bose, the chairman of the Left Front coordination committee, announced to reporters a little around at 12.30pm.

He served as West Bengal Chief Minister from June 1977 to November 2000, heading five successive Left Front governments.

He was shifted to the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit (ICCU) on January 2, and put on ventilator support on January 6 after the respiratory problem became acute.

Basu’s lung, kidney and haemo dynamic system had failed. Besides his heart was also partially affected.