Mishra has his task cut out: ‘Trinamool Cong, BJP hatao’

A MBBS doctor from SCB Medical College in Cuttack, Mishra also has a diploma in TB and chest diseases. He had served as the longest health minister of the Left Front regime, having held the portfolio from 2001 to 2011.

As a health minister and earlier as the panchayat and rural development minister, Mishra did not display much enterprise and dynamism, say his colleagues on anonymity. But he was known as “Mr Cool” for his gentle temperament and composure even at the face of crisis. This probably made him acceptable to all Left constituents for the position of Leader of Opposition in the assembly after the rout in the 2011 state Assembly polls.

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Mishra had survived the Trinamool onslaught in East Midnapore and in his constituency of Narayangarh in the 2011 polls. He has managed to hold on to his constituency ever since 1991, when he was elected for the first time from Narayangarh — bordering Orissa — once a Maoist hotbed.

It was his functioning as the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly that brought him to the spotlight. He deftly handled debates in the House, infusing his speeches with daily doses of wit and satire even in situations where his party was dwarfed by the massive presence of ruling party members. Even his worst enemies in the Treasury benches admit that Mishra was confident and hit the government where it hurt most.

He was unputdownable when restrictions were imposed on his chamber being used for press interactions. He decided to hold the press meet daily at the Assembly gate till the government came up with a permanent venue to hold such interactions.

Beneath his suave and urbane sophistication, lies a simple rustic nature. Mishra’s manners, his sartorial preferences speak of sophistication but he smokes “bidis”.

Though attached to the party from the late 1960s, Mishra became a permanent member of the CPM in 1973. His early days saw him deeply involved in the grassroots and district level politics, as he happened to be the Midnapore zilla sabhadhipati from 1978 to 1991. His wife is a teacher and the couple has two daughters.

Mishra was elected to the CPM state committee in 1991 and to the state secretariat in 1995. Within the party, he is known to be in the “Prakash Karat camp” and was inducted into the policy making central committee in 2002 during the 17th Party Congress in Hyderabad. He was elected to the politburo at the 20th party congress in April 2012.