07-15-2008, 08:41 PM
In House, he used to threaten "I'll resign", but now has second thoughts
In House, he used to threaten 'I'll resign', but now has second thoughts
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee always dangled the threat of resignation while conducting the House, but when the CPI(M) wanted him to take that call, the veteran Marxist seemed to be in no mood to oblige.
<b>Somnath's meeting with Jyoti Basu on Sunday was widely politicised with near unanimity in reports that Basu had asked him to toe the party line, an euphemism to suggest he should put in his papers.</b> The report was not denied either by the party or Basu. In the last few days, senior Left leaders like Prakash Karat, AB Bardhan and Sitaram Yechury also said the Speaker should decide on this issue considering all the circumstances. The emphasis on circumstances was widely interpreted as a veiled hint that he should better leave the "office" and sit on the opposition bench against the Government.
But Somnath has given no hint that he was just yet ready to heed to the "party's line." In fact, he seemed even unhappy that the CPI(M) had listed him among the party MPs whose names were submitted to President Pratibha Patil while withdrawing support to the Government.
<b>"No, I was not consulted. I came to know after (it was presented to the President)," he told a Kolkata daily after his meeting with Basu.</b>
Chatterjee rubbed in his non-partisan status by telling the daily he was "unanimously" chosen the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha.
"I was not nominated by my party. Some of my predecessors had won uncontested after filing nomination. But my election was unanimous from the beginning as all camps had accepted me. There was no such record earlier. And in the last four-and-a-half years, nobody accused me of taking sides," he said.
<b>With Somnath seemed reluctance to leave the 'chair',</b> CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat issued a fresh statement on Monday in which he said he has already stated that any decision will be taken by the Speaker himself. "This has been reiterated by the Speaker through a statement by his office on July 10, 2008," he said in the release.
Interestingly, Karat called the Speaker as "Comrade" Somanth Chatterjee and referred to a lot of speculation in the media regarding his position. "We do not want the office of the Speaker being dragged into any unnecessary controversy," Karat said.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) leader from West Bengal Subhas Chakrabarty, considered a protege of Basu, said the post of Speaker has its sanctity and is above politics.
"Chatterjee was elected unanimously by members of all parties and his case should not be viewed as a CPI(M) party affair," he said.
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So its everyone for themselves! Very good precedent this govt is setting. We have corporate wars being settled by horse trading. Now Speaker wants to hang on. If he want from Left no one would have considered him a candidate for the post. I hear jailhouse dons are waxing eloquent about the deal and bringing tears to inmates!