Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya

Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya (born 27 November 1951) is an Indian Communist politician and lawyer. He is currently serving as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He is serving as the CPI(M) parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha since 3 July 2024. He served as Mayor of Kolkata from 2005 to 2010, heading the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, led by the Left Front (West Bengal) in the state of West Bengal.

Early life
Bhattacharya hails from the Kalighat region of Kolkata. He was born in a refugee family to Nityaranjan Bhattacharyya and Avarani Bhattacharyya. He went to Kalighat High School, and then joined Ashutosh College for his Bachelor of Science degree. He completed his LL.B. from University of Calcutta. He was later recruited as a school teacher, however, he left that job to join the legal profession.

Legal career
Bhattacharya is a Senior Advocate and leads various notable cases like "Saradha", "Narada sting operation", "Teachers Recruitment Scam" among other cases. He is practicing in Supreme Court of India, Calcutta High Court and other courts.

He has served as the Advocate General of Tripura for 5 years between 1998-2003. He was once offered the position of a justice at Calcutta High Court but he passed on that appointment.

He also acts as the principal legal mind of his party and defends party members implicated in political cases

Political career
He joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) as a student and was active Students' Federation of India.

He was arrested in the 1970's for participating in students' movement and spent some time in prison.

He took over the reins of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in 2005 and continued as Mayor of Kolkata in 2010. He was elected from Ward No. 100, Kolkata Municipal Corporation in 2005, defeating influential Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee.

As Mayor of Kolkata, he undertook several projects including sewerage systems in the city and took initiative to provide birth certificates to street children. Being a senior advocate he has become the poster-boy of TMC government opposition by his cascading eloquence and fiery oratory.

He fought from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 Loksabha election for CPI(M) in which he faced defeat and received third position behind Mimi Chakraborty of Trinamool Congress party and Anupam Hazra of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

He has been elected to Rajya Sabha from West Bengal in 2020 and took oath on July 22. Earlier in 2017, he contested for a Rajya Sabha seat in West Bengal, however, his nomination was disqualified due to technical issues.

He was elected as the President of All India Lawyers' Union, lawyers' organisation of Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2017. He currently serves as a special invited member of CPI(M) West Bengal State Committee.

He is the CPI(M) parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha.

Personal life
Bhattacharyya married to Ibha Bhattacharyya on 31 May 1976 and the couple has a son. Ibha Bhattacharyya is a consultant dietician. He has five brothers and one sister.