Benoy Konar, a front-ranking CPI(M) leader in West Bengal, died at a city nursing home today after a prolonged illness, party sources said. He was 84.
Konar, a leading figure in the militant peasants' movement in the state during 1960s and early 1970s, is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.
A former CPI(M) central committee and state secretariat member, Konar was the party's prominent peasant leader from Burdwan district. A former party legislator, he was elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Memari constituency in Burdwan district three times - in 1969, 1971 and 1977.
Konar was elected as chairman of the five-member CPI(M) central control commission in 2012, an internal vigilance wing of the party. But he was dropped from the state secretariat, the party's policy-making body in the same year as he had requested to be relieved of the responsibilities on health ground.
Konar had not been keeping well for the last several months.
