Date:15/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/15/stories/2008111556171300.htm

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Trinamool leader Ajit Panja dead

Special Correspondent

Kolkata: Ajit Panja, former Union Minister and one of the founder members of the Trinamool Congress, died at a private hospital here on Friday. He was 72 and is survived by a son and a daughter.

He was suffering from cancer.

He was a six-time MP and held important portfolios as Union Minister both when the Congress and the National Democratic Alliance were in power at the Centre. Prior to that he was a Minister in the Congress-led government in West Bengal.

He left the Congress in 1997 and, under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, was among those who formed the Trinamool Congress. He was a lawyer by profession.

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, senior political leaders including Ms. Banerjee, Chairman of the Left Front, Biman Bose and Pradip Bhattacharjee of the Congress were among those to visit Ajit Panja’s residence to pay their last respects.

CM’s condolence

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee expressed his sorrow over the death of Ajit Panja and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in a condolence message, said that his demise was a big loss to the nation.