WB's finance plenipotentiary: Why Amit Mitra is important to Mamata

The former state finance minister has acquired a new powerful advisory role that must build on his earlier achievements

West Bengal, 2011: The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress was looking to bring the Left Front’s 34-year rule to a halt. Amid a raging battle across the state, one Assembly constituency – Khardah in North 24 Parganas – was drawing attention.

Khardah was the turf of Asim Dasgupta, Bengal’s longest-serving finance minister, a doctoral student of economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His opponent -- Amit Mitra – a PhD in economics from Duke University and secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) – was preparing to give up the high-brow world of sharp