Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (born 1 March 1944) is an Indian Communist politician and a former member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He served as the 7th Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2000 to 2011. He is a senior leader of Communist Party of India (Marxist), having served as a member of the politburo between 2002 and 2015. Bhattacharjee is known for leading a spartan and honest livelihood. Early life Born in 1944 in north Calcutta, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee belongs to a family which had produced another famous son. Revolutionary poet Sukanta Bhattacharya was his father's cousin. A former student of Sailendra Sircar Vidyalaya, Bhattacharjee had his ancestral house in Bangladesh. He studied Bengali literature at the Presidency College, Kolkata, and secured his B.A. degree in Bengali (Honors), and joined a government school as a teacher. Early political career He joined the CPI(M) as a primary member in 1966. Besides taking active part in the food movement, he also supported Vietnam's cause in 1968. In 1968, he was elected state secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation, the youth wing of the CPI(M) that was later merged into the Democratic Youth Federation of India. He served in the position till 1981, when he was succeeded by Boren Basu. He was mentored by Pramod Dasgupta. Political career Bhattacharjee was elected to the state committee of CPI(M) in 1972 and was inducted in the state secretariat in 1982. At first he was the MLA of Kashipur-Belgachia from 1977 to 1982. Bhattacharjee served as Minister in West Bengal Cabinet as Minister of Information and Public Relations between 1977 and 1982. He lost the assembly elections in 1982 from Cossipur constituency in 1982 by a slender margin. He was made a permanent invitee to the central committee of CPI(M) in 1984 and was made a member in 1985. Later he became the MLA of Jadavpur in 1987 and continued to represent the constituency till 2011. He was re-inducted in the cabinet in 1987 minister of Information and Cultural Affairs. He also held other departments, such as urban development and tourism, on temporary basis. He was included in the cabinet in 1991 as Information and Cultural Affairs minister, however, he abruptly resigned from his position in September 1993 following differences with the chief minister on the functioning of the administration and the alleged issue of corruption. He returned to the cabinet a few