Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee hospitalised

Noted Marxist leader and former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was taken to Woodlands Hospital in Kolkata today after his breathing-related problems aggravated, sources said.

Doctors are attending on the 76-year-old veteran politician at the private hospital's ''flu clinic'', they said.

Bhattacharjee, who was Chief Minister from 2000 to 2011 succeeding Jyoti Basu, has been suffering from breathing problems and other old age-related ailments for quite some time.

He stepped down from the politburo and the central committee of Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2018 citing his ailments.

Bhattacharjee was hospitalised in September last year after his blood hemoglobin and blood pressure fell and he had difficulty in breathing.

Bhattacharjee was credited with trying to improve private investment for industrialisation in West Bengal. But his attempt also sparked discontent relating to land acquisition for industries that mainly contributed to the fall of 34 years of rule by the CPI (M)-led Left Front in assembly elections in 2011 that saw Mamata Banerjee becoming Chief Minister.