Somnath compromised party position: CPM

CPM lashed out at Somnath accusing him of giving 'factually incorrect' arguments to justify his decision to continue in office.

The CPIM on Monday hit out at Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee accusing him of giving 8220;factually incorrect8221; arguments to justify his decision to continue in office, escalating the war of words between him and the party ever since his expulsion from its fold.

The party is planning to come out with a detailed statement, which would be a point-by-point rebuttal of Chatterjee8217;s contentions, to make it clear that as far as the party is concerned he had 8220;seriously compromised8221; the position and official line of the CPIM by remaining in office.

Sources in the CPIM also made it clear that general secretary Prakash Karat and some senior leaders had told Chatterjee that his continuance in office had become 8220;untenable8221; after the Left8217;s withdrawal of support to the UPA Government much before the Politburo had officially asked him to step down.

In response to Chatterjee8217;s statement, CPIM Politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai said the party had 8220;not interfered8221; with the Speaker8217;s constitutional functions or duties and noted that as a party member it was his primary responsibility to abide by its decision.

8220;We allowed him to accept the post as Speaker in the context of our decision to support the UPA. Once the support is withdrawn, his continuance in office becomes untenable. We asked him to step down, but he refused. What he did was he refused to abide by the decision of the party,8221; Pillai told The Indian Express.

His comments were in reply to Chatterjee8217;s assertion that the CPIM should have appreciated that as Speaker he did not represent it nor could the party give any direction to him with regard to the discharge of his functions.

8220;We haven8217;t interfered with his constitutional functions and duties. He was a party member at that time and we only asked him to abide by the party8217;s decision,8221; he said, adding that Chatterjee derived his position by virtue of his being a member of the party and an MP belonging to the CPIM.

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Pillai said the CPIM leadership had conveyed to him that his continuance in office after withdrawal of support was 8220;untenable8221; and Chatterjee8217;s assertion that it was only on July 20 that a Politburo member told him that he should resign before the trust vote was 8220;factually incorrect8221;.

Senior leaders said though the party8217;s official line was that it was for the Speaker to take a decision keeping in mind the circumstances consequent to the withdrawal of support, the understanding was that Chatterjee would step down before the trust vote as the decision was that all MPs would vote against the Manmohan Singh Government.

The CPIM also rejected the proposal mooted by Chatterjee that an MP should temporarily resign from the membership of the party once he is elected as Speaker so that the person should not face a situation which compromises the position of the Speaker vis-a-vis the party. 8220;There have been many Speakers in India and so far none of them has said the party is interfering with their constitutional functions and duties. This proposal is just a way to justify his decision to continue in office. There is no need for such a new convention,8221; Pillai said.