A day after being nominated as the consensus candidate of the Congress and CPM from West Bengal for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, former Kolkata Mayor and CPM leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said the fight against corruption of political leaders in regard to chit fund scams will be one of the key issues he would highlight in Parliament. Speaking to The Indian Express, Bhattacharya said, “My endeavour would be to uphold the banner of constitutional morality and acceptance thereof. The Rajya Sabha forum would be utilised to highlight those issues. Fight against corruption of political leaders and particularly related to chit fund scam would be a very important area, in which I would raise my voice.” Bhattacharya, a lawyer, had fought cases for people were duped by ponzi schemes. On Tuesday, CPM announced Bhattacharya’s name as the consensus candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls on March 26. For the five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal, TMC has named four candidates. Bhattacharya will be contesting the fifth seat and his victory is certain with the strength of Congress and Left MLAs.“Countrywide alliance of all democratic and secular forces is the demand of the time. My nomination by both CPM and Congress may be an example of that unity,” Bhattacharya said. Bhattacharya had earlier served as the advocate general of Tripura. He was Kolkata mayor from 2005 to 2010. He is currently representing a group of people who have challenged CAA in the Supreme Court. He is also representing a number of petitioners in chit fund cases. He had contested the Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat last year but lost to the TMC’s Mimi Chakraborty.
