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Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu speaks of retirement
Veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) leader Jyoti Basu on Friday reiterated his desire to quit the party's top decision-making body on grounds of ill-health.
- IANS
- Published: 01:05 February 23, 2008
Kolkata: Veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) leader Jyoti Basu on Friday reiterated his desire to quit the party's top decision-making body on grounds of ill-health.
"I have written to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat expressing my desire to quit the politburo due to my ill-health," Basu told reporters here.
"I have informed my party it would not be possible for me to attend the politburo in Delhi on February 25 and 26," he added.
The 94-year-old party patriarch, however, said it was up to his party to take a decision on it.
"In our party an individual cannot take any decision, it is the party which has the final word," he said.
The former West Bengal chief minister had earlier expressed his desire to quit the politburo but was persuaded to stay on for some more time.
Speaking on the forthcoming union budget, he expressed the hope that the central government would take into account the interests of farmers.
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