Describing veteran CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu as one of the country's "worthiest sons", the Congress today condoled his demise.
"It's a very sad development not only for West Bengal or CPI-M but for the country as a whole. The country has lost one of its worthiest sons," party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmad said.
Basu stood for simplicity and firmness at the same time in public life and "his death is a loss for the nation," he said.
Another Congress party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said Basu's death signfied the end of an era.
"Jyoti Babu belongs to the era of gentleman politics. His death signifies the end of an era...As a disciplined party solider, he paid the price with Prime Minister's post although a lot of persons said that it was a historic blunder," Singhvi said.
He was referring to the refusal of the CPI-M to participate in the 1996 United Front government even though the prime minister's chair was offered to Basu.
"To be the longest serving communist party in the democratic world mainly in West Bengal was to a large measure on account of the personality of this man," Singhvi said.
