West Bengal's [Images] Sport, Transport and Youth Affairs minister Subhas Chakraborty [Images], who was hospitalised last week, is currently in a critical condition. He is on life support and on dialysis.

The veteran leader from the Communist Party of India-Marxist was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata [Images] last week with chest infection and pneumonia. Chakraborty has also been battling cancer for a few years.

His condition deteriorated on Monday morning.

Many CPI-M [Images] leaders and members of his party's state secretariat visited him at the hospital on Sunday.

Chakraborty, a protege of former chief minister Jyoti Basu, is known for his maverick and outspoken ways in Bengal's political circles.