Somnath Chatterjee passed away at 89 in Kolkata.

Kolkata: Former Lok Sabha speaker, Somnath Chatterjee passed away on Monday at 8 AM in Kolkata. The former Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader was suffering from different ailments.

After suffering a heart attack on Monday, the former Lok Sabha speaker was put on ventilator support in Kolkata-based Belle Veu Clinic. Chatterjee was also suffering from a kidney-related ailment. The veteran politician was being attended by a team of 12 doctors.

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The Former Lok Sabha Speaker had suffered a major hemorrhagic stroke last month following which he had remained in the hospital for 40 days.

He had remained as the Speaker of Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2009 during the erstwhile UPA Government and had won the Outstanding Parliamentarian1996.

With a political career spanning over decades, Somnath Chatterjee's tenure in Indian politics has not been a bed of roses. He was ousted from the political party he belonged to (CPI-M) when the left party had withdrawn their support from the UPA-1 government and Chatterjee refused to resign from the post of Speaker.

Somnath Chatterjee was a member of the CPI-M for 40 years from 1968 and represented it 10 times in the Parliament.

Blessed with innate oratory skills, Somnath Chatterjee held a Masters in Law from Cambridge University. He was also called to the bar from Middle Temple in London.

The veteran leader had lost just one election in his lifetime in 1984 when he lost to present West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Jadavpur constituency.

Somnath Chatterjee is regarded as a politician who worked above the interests of the party. This he proved when he refuted the party diktat in 2008.

Chatterjee is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

The former Lok Sabha Speaker's death has sent waves of mourning across the political sphere of the country. Leaders across political lines have condoled the death of the veteran politician.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "I mourn the passing away of Shri Somnath Chatterjee, 10 term MP and former Speaker of the Lok Sabha. He was an institution. Greatly respected and admired by all parliamentarians, across party lines. My condolences to his family at this time of grief".

President Ram Nath Kovind has said that Somnath Chatterjee's death is a loss to public life in Bengal and India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a Tweet expressed his condolences saying Chatterjee was a "strong voice for the well being of the poor and vulnerable".