Cooch Behar, Aug. 6: Former agriculture minister and Forward Bloc chairman Kamal Guha died here this afternoon. He was 80.

Guha was admitted to a nursing home with acute breathing trouble on July 24. He passed away there.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said he was “deeply shocked”. “Guha played an important role in the Left movement in Bengal and discharged his ministerial duties successfully,” he said.

State Forward Bloc secretary Ashok Ghosh described Guha as a “great leader” inspired by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Born in 1928, at Dinhata in Cooch Behar, Guha joined the Forward Bloc as a student. He became an MLA in 1962.

Guha was the agriculture minister for 14 years from 1977. He was denied a cabinet berth in 1991.

Following differences with his party, Guha was suspended. He floated the Samajbadi Forward Bloc and won from Dinhata as an Independent in 1996. He was reinstated in the Bloc in 1999. In 2001, he won from Dinhata again and became the agriculture minister.

Guha came to the fore as the anti-CPM voice of the Left Front. He was vociferous aga-inst the Bhattacharjee regime’s market-driven farm policy.

Guha is survived by son Udayan.