Kolkata: Former Bengal MLA Parash Dutta died after a prolonged illness on Friday night at his Lake Gardens residence. He was 78.Dutta began his political career with BJP before joining Trinamool Congress. In the 2001 Bengal assembly elections, he contested from the Behala East constituency on a TMC ticket and won. In 2004, the TMC expelled him following internal disagreements.Following his expulsion, Dutta joined Congress and contested the 2006 assembly election from Behala East, finishing third. In 2007, during the Singur and Nandigram land acquisition movements, he rejoined TMC.Dutta was subsequently elected to the assembly from the Jagatdal constituency in Barrackpore as a TMC candidate in the 2011 elections, and secured re-election from the same constituency in 2016.Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Dutta withdrew from active political engagement and visited his constituency infrequently. The TMC did not field him as a candidate in the 2021 assembly elections, after which he remained out of public life.
