Tripura Left front convener dies due to COVID-related complications

Veteran communist leader and convener of opposition Left Front in Tripura, Bijan Dhar, died on Monday in a Kolkata hospital due to COVID-related complications, a party member said.

Dhar, 70, a Marxist ideologue and prominent political strategist is survived by wife Ila and daughter Gopa. His body would be flown to Agartala in the evening, he said.

The communist leader was associated with students' politics since the 1970s and was elected to the CPI(M)'s state committee in 1978. He became a member of the state secretariat in 1995.

Dhar was made party secretary in 2008, a post he held for 10 years.

In 2018, he was elected unanimously as the convener of the Left Front.

The politburo of the CPI(M) has expressed profound shock and grief over his death.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, too, condoled Dhar's demise.

"I am deeply mourned at the demise of the former CPI(M) secretary and Left Front convener Bijan Dhar. I pray for the departed soul’s peace. I pray to God for strength to the bereaved family to endure the pain,” Deb wrote on Facebook.