Dr Subhash Chandra, 65, chairman of Zee and Essel Group, a conglomerate of companies having interest in diverse fields including media, took oath as Rajya Sabha MP on Wednesday.
Describing his membership to the Upper House as beginning of a new chapter in his life, Dr Chandra told reporters, "I have done a great deal of business in my life, starting at a young age of 17. I thought time has come to give back to the society, and as an MP, I perhaps can benefit lakhs of people, raising important issues and using my good relations with parties on both sides to work together."
Expressing confidence in the current dispensation, Dr Chandra said that he hopes that apart from the GST, the government will also take several other steps for ease of doing business that an answer to many problems country is suffering today.
"GST is only one step in the direction of taking country forward. It won't solve all problems. I am confident that the government will unfold many other tax reforms to take the country forward. If business gets a push, all will benefit because of trickle-down effect," he said.
Asserting that his sole interest lies in country's betterment and is above party politics and serving Haryana would be his starting point, Dr Chandra said, "I will be inviting all 90 MLAs for dinner soon and request them to tell him whatever they have in mind for Haryana's benefit."
"I will take up every important issue in the august house that is brought to me by Haryana MLAs. It does not matter to which party they belong to... My hallmark has been to raise issues that are often neglected by others. I'll keep at it."
Describing Bulandshahr gang rape incident as a blot on the country, Dr Chandra said, "Our problem is that we soon forget such horrific incident and don't keep hammering so that such shameful acts come to an end. As a person connected to the media, I believe that the media should not leave reporting about such incident until some solid steps are taken by the administration."
