West Bengal elections: RG Kar victim’s mother says she wants to contest polls

In Kolkata, the mother of the victim in the RG Kar rape and murder case on Thursday said she is considering contesting the upcoming assembly elections from the Panihati constituency in North 24 Parganas.

She claimed she had earlier received an offer from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but was not ready at the time. “I have now decided to contest to ensure justice for my daughter and safety for all women in this state,” she said, alleging that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was tacitly helping the Trinamool Congress after using the incident for political mileage.

Samik Bhattacharya declined to comment on her statement. The BJP’s candidate list has so far not included the Panihati seat, fuelling speculation that a decision may be taken later.

Party spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said any decision on her candidature would be taken by the BJP’s parliamentary committee in Delhi.

Meanwhile, Md Salim rejected the allegations, saying his party stood by the family during the crisis and accusing the BJP and RSS of politicising the incident.