Kolkata, April 17 (IANS) Veteran CPI(M) leader and senior advocate, Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya, whose term as a member of the Rajya Sabha ended recently, has declined to accept the pension allotted by the Union Government for former MPs.

A communique on this count, sent by Bhattacharya to the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, was posted on his official social media handle in the morning.

“Sir, this is to inform you that I have decided not to accept the pension available to a retired MP. You please keep your record to reflect my desire and oblige,” read the communique dated April 16.

Bhattacharya was elected as a Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal on April 3, 2020, backed by Congress. His term as a Rajya Sabha MP ended on April 2 this year.

In the five Rajya Sabha seats in West Bengal where elections were held a few days ago, the CPI(M)-led Left Front could not field any candidates, as it has no representatives in the West Bengal Assembly.

Four representatives of the ruling Trinamool Congress and one representative of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were elected unopposed for the five vacant seats in the Upper House of the Parliament from West Bengal.

Bhattacharya is the CPI(M) candidate from Jadavpur Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district in the forthcoming two-phase Assembly elections. Jadavapur will be going to the polls in the second phase on April 29.

Even in the past, when Bhattacharya held important elected government posts, he refrained from accepting emoluments that he was entitled to by virtue of occupying those chairs, recall CPI(M) veterans

Earlier, when he was the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation from July 2005 to June 2010, he did not accept the emoluments he was entitled to as Mayor of Kolkata.

Bhattacharya’s decision to decline a pension as a former Rajya Sabha member has received accolades on social media, with people saying that Bhattacharya has proved that the spirit of sacrifice still prevails among some people in the current age of materialism and ultimate greed.

–IANS

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