Agartala: The veteran communist leader left front chairman of Tripura and CPI-M central committee member Bijan Dhar breathed his last this morning in a private hospital at Kolkata after a month long suffering in post Covid complications.
He was 70 and survived by his wife, a daughter and other family members.
Dhar died three weeks after the death of CPI-M state secretary Goutam Das in the same ailment. Besides, CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Choudhury, leader of the opposition Manik Sarkar, Politburo and CPI-M central committee expressed grief over the demise of Bijan Dhar. Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, BJP state President Dr Manik Saha, senior BJP leader and MLA Sudip Roybarman and Trinamool Congress state Convener Subal Bhowmik expressed condolences.
Dhar had infected with Covid-19 on Sept 16 last and with the sharply deteriorating condition he had to be shifted by an air ambulance to Kolkata for treatment three days later. However, his health deteriorated for the last two days and shifted to ICU where he died, family sources said.
Dhar’s mortal remains were brought to Agartala in the evening and taken to his parental home at Badharghat and then to Sonamura from where he had begun his political career. Tomorrow morning his remains will be brought to CPI-M office here for the public to pay their respects and in the afternoon last rite will be performed.
The party statement said Bijan Dhar was actively involved in the student movement in the 1970s. He was elected to the State Committee of the Party in 1978 and became a member of the State Secretariat in 1995. He was elected as the Secretary of the Tripura State Committee in 2008 and continued in that post till 2018. Thereafter, he became the Chairman of Left Front Committee.