Kolkata, Jan 17 (IANS) Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu's last wish was to die at his 'Indira Bhavan' Salt Lake residence, his personal assistant Joy Krishna Ghosh said Sunday.

'After being admitted to the hospital, he continuously expressed an urge to return to Indira Bhavan. He used to repeatedly ask me 'When will you take me back home? You promised me that you will take me after keeping me here for one day',' Ghosh said, breaking down in tears.

'His last wish was to return to Indira Bhavan and die over there,' said Ghosh after the former West Bengal chief minister's death.

Basu was living at his Salt Lake residence since 1989.

'I can never forget him. He had showered immense love and affection towards me,' Ghosh said as tears welled repetedly up in his eyes.

The communist icon was hospitalised after a pneumonia attack and admitted in the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit (ICCU) of a Salt Lake-based private hospital Jan 1.

Born 1914 in Kolkata, Basu became West Bengal chief minister in June 1977. He stepped down voluntarily on health grounds in November 2000.