Lucknow, Jan 22 (IANS) Former central minister and Samajwadi Party leader Janeshwar Mishra died of cardiac arrest after a prolonged illness in Allahabad Friday, the party said. He was 77.

Mishra died at the TB Sapru Hospital in Allahabad, about 200 km from here, party spokesman Devendra Chaudhary said.

A close associate of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, he was among the founders of the party. He was a central minister both in the 1977-79 Janata Party regime and in the Janata Dal government of 1989-90.

He was among the few Samajwadi Party leaders who had worked with veteran socialist Ram Manohar Lohia. Mishra was often referred to as 'chote Lohia'.