Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and wife Mira Bhattacharjee test positive for COVID-19

Buddhadeb Bhattacharee at a rally in Kolkata in 2016.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, former Chief Minister of West Bengal and iconic leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and his wife Mira Bhattacharjee have tested positive for COVID-19. While Mira Bhattacharjee was shifted to a private hospital after she complained of breathlessness, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is being presently treated at his residence.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee testing positive for Coronavirus is particularly worrying, as the ailing former Chief Minister is a patient of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). His frail physical condition prevented him from even casting his vote in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and the 2021 Assembly election. In December last year, the 77-year-old Bhattacharjee had to be hospitalised after he complained about difficulty in breathing. He had tested negative for COVID then.

Known as much for his cultural and intellectual leanings as his statesmanship, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been one of the tallest Marxist leaders in the country and continues to be one of the most well-loved political figures even though he has long retired from public life because of his failing health. He served as West Bengal Chief Minister for two consecutive terms from 2001 to 2011.