CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury passes away at 72

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury passed away at AIIMS Delhi on Thursday. He breathed his last at 3.03pm. The 72-year-old was on respiratory support, the party had said on Tuesday.

Yechury was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on August 19 and was being treated for acute respiratory tract infection at the ICU.

A multi-disciplinary team of doctors was closely monitoring his condition after his condition deteriorated on Tuesday morning.

Born on August 12, 1952 in a Telugu-speaking family in Chennai, Yechury was a member of the Politburo of the CPI (M) since 1992. A three-time Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, Yechury had started his political career at the age of 22 after joining the Students' Federation of India (SFI) in 1974.

An alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Yechury was also arrested at the time of Emergency and later got elected as the President of the JNU Students' Union thrice during one year.