New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS) Communist veteran Jyoti Basu was a leader for all political parties and his personality was larger than that of prime ministers', Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former railway minister Lalu Prasad said.

'He was not just a leader of the communist party. He was leader of all of us... all political parties,' Prasad said. 'You will not find a leader like him.'

'His personality was bigger than prime ministers'. He was (a) leader of the people. His contribution in nation building is immense,' Lalu Prasad said over telephone to news channel CNN-IBN.

A charismatic leader, Basu served as West Bengal chief minister from June 1977 to November 2000, heading five successive Left Front governments. He died Sunday at the age of 95.

In 1996, the centre-Left United Front asked Basu to lead the central government as prime minister. But the CPI-M declined the offer saying it would not head a national government whose policies it could not control.