Senior Indian opposition politician and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury died at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi today following a prolonged illness, AIIMS said.

Yechury, 72, had been in a critical condition for the last few days and was on ventilation.

In a statement, the AIIMS said Yehcury's family has donated his body to the hospital in New Delhi for teaching and research purposes, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

"It is with profound grief that we announce the passing away of CPIM General Secretary, our beloved Comrade Sitaram Yechury, at 3:03pm today at the AIIMS, New Delhi. He was suffering from a respiratory tract infection which developed complications," CPI(M) said in a post on X.

Yechury was admitted to the AIIMS on August 19 for treatment of a pneumonia-like chest infection.

Starting his political career as a student union leader at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as a member of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), a frontal wing of CPI(M), Yehchury became a member of the Central Committee of the CPI(M) in 1984 and got elected to the Politburo in 1992.

He was a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament, for 12 years from 2005.

Yechury took over as the general secretary of the CPI(M) at the 21st party Congress in Visakhapatnam on April 19, 2015, succeeding Prakash Karat.

He also played a key role in the formation of the anti-BJP joint opposition INDIA bloc in the run-up to Lok Sabha elections this year.

- ANN