Left hanging again: Somnath as Speaker

A week after it shied away from joining the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance UPA Government at Centre, the Left parties today fail...

A week after it shied away from joining the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance UPA Government at Centre, the Left parties today failed to reach a decision on veteran CPIM leader Somnath Chatterjee taking up the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.

The decision was put off till May 26, with the CPIM Politburo divided on the issue. Though this time round there was a feeling that the refusal would not go down well with the people, a section of the party felt that with Chatterjee taking up the neutral post of Lok Sabha Speaker, the party would be robbed of one of the most forceful Left voices in Parliament.

In exchange, the CPIM gets a post that is not only mainly ceremonial but also requires a certain standard of parliamentary conduct from the person who occupies it.

Though former West Bengal chief minister and stalwart Jyoti Basu was among the first to object to Chatterjee accepting the offer, asking 8216;8216;Who would run the party in the House?8217;8217;, he later withdrew his objections, only to have his successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharya raising similar doubts.

Four Left parties8212;the CPI, All India Forward Bloc AIFB and RSP, along with the CPIM8212;met after the CPIM Politburo meeting, but failed to arrive at a decision on the Speakership.

The Politburo would meet again ahead of the Left meeting on May 27 to decide on the matter.

Apart from that, the Left meeting today also considered the Common Minimum Programme CMP draft prepared for the UPA coalition.

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Later at night, the Congress, UPA allies and the Left attended a meeting at Sonia Gandhi8217;s residence, where it was decided that the final draft of the CMP will be released on May 27.

The formation of the coordination committee, which will monitor the implementation of the CMP, will also be finetuned at the May 27 meeting, CPIM Politburo member Sitaram Yechuri and CPI8217;s D Raja said.