Calcutta, Jan. 23 :    Calcutta, Jan. 23:  Former Assembly Speaker Apurbalal Majumdar died this afternoon at the SSKM hospital after a cerebral attack and renal failure. He was 84 and is survived by his widow and a daughter. A seven-time MLA, Majumdar was first elected to the Assembly on a Forward Bloc ticket in 1957. In 1971, he was elected Speaker of the Assembly during Ajoy Mukherjee's chief ministership. He joined the Congress in 1972 and was elected MLA. He became the Speaker for the second time when Siddhartha Shankar Ray was chief minister. Majumdar contested from Uluberia and Bagda Assembly constituencies. Fighting for the cause of Backward Castes, he also became close to B.R. Ambedkar as a student leader. He was born in Faridpur district, now in Bangladesh. Majumdar left the Congress following differences with some leaders and joined the Trinamul Congress. Recently he had retired from active politics for health reasons. 'We deeply condole Apurbada's death. I had known him for 30 years,' said Saugata Roy, PCC vice-president.