Samir Putatundu, a veteran Left leader in West Bengal and co-founder of Party for Democratic Socialism (PDS), died at a private hospital in South Kolkata Sunday night. He was 74. He had been suffering from various diseases for several days, said family sources.

Putatundu began his political career with the Left student movement and later served as the state president of the Student Federation of India (SFI) in 1979. He was well-known for his organisational skills within the party, and during the 1990s, he served as the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s district secretary for South 24 Parganas.

However, due to ideological differences, he left the CPI(M) just before the 2011 Assembly elections along with another prominent leader, Saifuddin Choudhury. The duo formed the PDS, and Putatundu contested against the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya at the Jadavpur Assembly constituency, but lost the polls.

Putatundu also played a significant role during the Singur and Nandigram farmer-led movements alongside Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee, the incumbent West Bengal chief minister. With his extensive organisational experience, he provided considerable support to Banerjee during those movements. However, Choudhury opposed Banerjee’s campaign against the CPI(M) government at that time.

After Putatundu’s death, CM Banerjee expressed her grief and wrote on X, “I am deeply saddened by the loss of Samir Putatundu, a once powerful leader of the Left movement. It feels like I have lost someone of my own. We worked together in the Singur-Nandigram movement. There are no words to console (his wife) Anuradha, but I am always by her side.”

CPI(M) Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty wrote on X, “Former SFI state president and later PDS leader Sameer Putatundu has passed away. I mourn his death. And I pay tribute to his memory. His wife Anuradha Dev was in the student movement and was our colleague. I talked with Anuradha Dev and expressed my condolences.”