•Your editorial ‘Red-faced, vindictive’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. — P.G. HarikumarKarnataka Speaker as comrade•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? — Ganesh K. Sovani Thane Wad of conspiracy•This refers to your editorial, ‘Just air it’ and news item, ‘Cash in House: Advani says show the tape, hold probe’. It is true that “lingering doubt about ‘cash for vote’ is not healthy for our democracy” and needs immediate investigation by an independent agency, like the CBI. I would like to suggest some points for probe. Who was the “unnamed intermediary” who initiated the negotiations about this infamous deal? From where did the cash come? Where is the “bribe” 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 “bribe” and points towards a conspiracy by the BJP, led by L.K. Advani. — Dalip Singh Ghuman Chandigarh Maps redrawn• The trust vote has added a new chapter to India’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 JD(S) 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. — Ashwani SharmaGhaziabad
