Kolkata: Former Rajya Sabha MP and senior CITU memberNepaldeb Bhattacharya(74) died in the early hours of Tuesday at a private nursing home in Kolkata. He is survived by his wife, Manjula Bhattacharya.On Tuesday morning, his body was brought to the CITU office at Sramik Bhavan, where Left and trade union members paid their respects.His remains were then taken to Muzaffar Ahmed Bhavan and later Dinesh Majumdar Bhavan, SFI's state office. His last rites took place at the Bhatpara crematorium.Bhattacharya served as the all-India general secretary of SFI for seven years from 1979. "Despite health issues, he remained active in thetrade union movementuntil he fell seriously ill and was hospitalised recently. He joined the road transport workers' Parliament march on March 24 this year and also participated in the Brigade rally on April 20," CITU general secretary Tapan Sen said.Bhattacharya played a crucial role in organising unions for rail hawkers, sector workers and transport workers. He was a Rajya Sabha member from 1981 to 1988. In 1997, he was expelled from CPM on charges of anti-party activities but was inducted again in 2003.In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he contested as CPM's candidate from Dum Dum constituency.