Left Veteran Sitaram Yechury Dies At 72 After Battling Respiratory Illness

Veteran Left leader and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury died this afternoon. He was 72 and was undergoing treatment for respiratory ailments at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The CPM leader was admitted to the emergency ward of AIIMS on August 19 and later shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He was suffering from a pneumonia-like infection, but doctors had not disclosed the exact nature of the ailment. Mr Yechury recently underwent cataract surgery.

A member of CPM"s top decision-making body Politburo for over three decades, Mr Yechury was a Rajya Sabha MP from 2005 to 2017.