India, July 21 -- Former Kerala Chief Minister and veteran communist leader VS Achuthanandan died in Thiruvananthapuram after a prolonged illness on Monday.

He was 101.

According to reports, he was admitted to a hospital on June 23 after suffering a heart attack.

He was not in active politics for the past five years after suffering a stroke.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expressed its profound grief at the death of the leader.

In 1940, the veteran leader was just seventeen years old when he joined the Communist Party.

He was the last of the surviving 32 members of the National Council who left to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

He served as the Secretary of the Kerala State Committee of the...