“I REMEMBER meeting Jyoti Basu for the first time at the undivided Communist Party of India’s national council meeting soon after the party’s Amritsar congress in 1958, when [S.A.] Dange was the chairman. Though I was selected by the party to attend the congress, at the last minute I was assigned to oversee a crucial election campaign at Devikulam [in Idukki district, Kerala]. So, though I could not attend the party congress, I was chosen as a member of the national council. I met Jyoti Basu at the Council meeting. From then on, until his death, we maintained a close relationship and worked together closely as members of the national council, the central committee and other bodies of the Communist party. He was a dear comrade and we shared a warm relationship throughout. For me, his death is all the more painful.” V.S. Achuthanandan, Kerala Chief Minister.