We have full faith in Speaker: Vajpayee

A day after Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee offered to step down from office, former prime minister A.B. Vajpayee declared here today t...

A day after Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee offered to step down from office, former prime minister A.B. Vajpayee declared here today that the Opposition had full faith in him. Vajpayee, who was talking to reporters, made it clear the charge of dictatorship was not directed at the Speaker

However, the NDA has convened a meeting for Monday to discuss the attitude of the Speaker towards the Opposition and the way Parliament is functioning. While this does not amount to a lack of faith in the Speaker, the Opposition clearly has its own list of grievances.

It was Vajpayee, who had raised the issue of absence of Railway Minister Laloo Yadav, which led to unruly scenes on Wednesday, prompting the Speaker to offer his resignation. Vajpayee said, ‘‘We did not say anything against the Speaker. We were only discussing dictatorship of the Government. We have full faith in the Speaker.’’ When asked if he did not feel bad that the Speaker had offered to quit because of what the Opposition had said, Vajpayee said, ‘‘I don’t want to get into it. The Speaker has said a lot of things about us, but he did not say anything about Railway Minister Laloo Prasad.” The BJP leader maintained that whatever had happened in the House was a sequel to what Laloo had promised. He had said he would come and make a statement in the House and give details, and it was unfortunate that he did not do it.

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