New Delhi/Kolkata, Former Rajya Sabha MP and Bengal minister Shyamal Chakraborty passed away at a Kolkata hospital on Thursday following cardiac arrest. Chakraborty, a senior trade union leader besides former Bengal transport minister and the CITU (Centre of Indian Trade Unions) Bengal secretary, was tested Covid positive recently and admitted at The Peerless Hospital in South Kolkata on July 30. He was put into ventilation on August 1, as his condition deteriorated. The end came at 1350 hrs. A pall of gloom descended in the political circle hearing the demise of Chakraborty.