Above parliament?

Your editorial 8216;Red-faced, vindictive8217;on the expulsion of Somnath Chatterjee is very apt. It is clearly a vindictive action by the CPM.

8226;Your editorial 8216;Red-faced, vindictive8217;on the expulsion of Somnath Chatterjee is very apt. It is clearly a vindictive action by the CPM. Thanks to LokSabha TV, even ordinary citizens of India know the difficulty in conducting proceedings in the Parliament. During his tenure as a speaker, Chatterjee earned the respect of all the members of the House by cutting across party lines and given impartial rulings. The CPM, which has interfered in almost all policy decisions of the UPA government, has no moral standing in saying that he should obey the party even though he is the speaker. CPM leaders say that the party is above all. Perhaps they think their party is above the Parliament, which symbolises a civilised democracy.

8212; P.G. Harikumar

Karnataka

Speaker as comrade

8226;The expulsion of Somnath Chatterjee has finally taken place. His honesty and integrity as speaker cost him his primary membership of his party on the eve of his 79th birthday. But, as the convention goes, the moment an MP assumes the reins as a speaker of the Lok Sabha, he ceases to be a member of the political party on the ticket of which he has become an MP. Therefore, how can he be expelled by the CPM?

8212; Ganesh K. Sovani Thane

Wad of conspiracy

8226;This refers to your editorial, 8216;Just air it8217; and news item, 8216;Cash in House: Advani says show the tape, hold probe8217;. It is true that 8220;lingering doubt about 8216;cash for vote8217; is not healthy for our democracy8221; and needs immediate investigation by an independent agency, like the CBI. I would like to suggest some points for probe. Who was the 8220;unnamed intermediary8221; who initiated the negotiations about this infamous deal? From where did the cash come? Where is the 8220;bribe8221; money? Should it not have been surrendered to the Speaker, along with the tape? The way it was brought to public notice casts doubt on the genuineness of the 8220;bribe8221; and points towards a conspiracy by the BJP, led by L.K. Advani.

8212; Dalip Singh Ghuman

Chandigarh

Maps redrawn

8226; The trust vote has added a new chapter to India8217;s parliamentary history. One of the developments is the involvement of the legislature in the Indo-US nuclear deal. The second development pertains to the shedding of ideological primacy by political parties while forming alliances. The support lent to the government by the Samajwadi Party virtually saved the former, although the SP has earlier opposed the UPA on many counts. Besides, the Left, the BSP, the JDS and the TDP have now come together under one umbrella. All of this can be seen as a healthy development if pragmatic politics is pursued. It can be harmful if these alliances are mere attempts at political opportunism.

8212; Ashwani Sharma

Ghaziabad