ROURKELA: The three-day 22nd State conference of CPI-M at Bartoli here ended on a sombre note after Ganjam district secretariat member Basant Nanda died due to sudden cardiac arrest at the venue on Thursday.
The concluding session of the conference was about to start when Nanda suffered a heart attack. He was rushed to the CWS Hospital but declared dead. His body was brought to the conference venue where leaders paid their last tributes. Nanda’s mortal remains were then sent to Ganjam, informed CPI-M secretary of Rourkela unit Raj Kishore Pradhan.
Meanwhile, the valedictory session unanimously elected the new 30-member Odisha State Committee of CPI-M. While Ali Kishore Patnaik was retained as the Odisha secretary, 30 others were inducted as State committee members. Janardan Pati, Bishnu Mohanty, Jagannath Mishra, Santosh Das, Dushmant Das, Bonai MLA Laxman Munda and Sundargarh district secretary Pramod Samal were retained as the committee members. CPI-M sources said the 10-member State secretariat of the party would be formed after national conference in April, 2022 in Kerala.