Sena hails Somnath for showing 145;courage of conviction146;

On Chatterjee8217;s defiance of the CPM, which expelled him from the party for not quitting the Speaker8217;s post, he said the 80-year-old veteran stuck to a principled stand disapproving of the Left voting along with the BJP in a bid to topple the UPA Government.

8220;When they failed to dislodge the Manmohan Singh Government and make BSP leader Mayawati the prime minister, the CPM bosses took out their anger on Chatterjee and expelled him,8221; Thackeray said, adding that Chatterjee matched Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in stature.

8220;Chatterjee,8221; he said, 8220;preferred political martyrdom for his secular ideoology to toeing the party line that his conscience did not permit8221;.

Referring to MPs who defied party whips to favour the UPA Government in Tuesday8217;s trust vote, the Sena supremo said such MPs were bound to face public backlash.