Agartala, Sep 19 (IANS): Veteran tribal leader Jitendra Chaudhury was on Sunday elected CPI-M's Tripura state Secretary, succeeding Gautam Das who passed away on Thursday following Covid-19 complications.

CPI-M sources said that the former minister and MP was unanimously chosen state Secretary in the virtual meeting of the state committee on Sunday.

Chaudhury, 63, is the second tribal leader to become the state Secretary of CPI-M in Tripura after former Chief Minister Dasaratha Deb, who along with another former Chief Minister Nripen Chakraborty, were the father figures of the Left movement in Tripura.

Chaudhury, who was inducted into the party in 1981 after leading the mass movement for many years, was the Forest, Information and Cultural Affairs and Tribal Welfare Minister for several years in the Left Front government headed by Manik Sarkar.

A former Chief Whip of CPI-M group in Lok Sabha, Chaudhury is also the national Convener of the party-backed Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch, and President of the party-affiliated tribal body, Tripura Rajya Upajati Ganamukti Parishad.