Kuldip Nayar met Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on the day the Left announced the withdrawal of its support to the Manmohan Singh government. Unhappiness was writ large on Chatterjee"s face. “They never consult me," he said. He was in no way less in his opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal than the CPI (M). But he was not in favour of pushing the government to a point where it would be reduced to a minority.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/05-Aug-2008/Another-alternative
That shows his Pro Congress stand.We all have already been informed of his objection to vote with the BJP against the Congress. Is this the Neutral speaker everyone is praising ?
Somnath should be honest. Dont blame Prakash Karat. He set Somnath free of any vestige of the color Red as he sits on his impartial throne. Now Somnath is free, of party ties, as he suggested every Speaker shold be. There is no need to complain. Somnath also has been allowed to appeal in case he wishes to join the party as a politician and not as a Speaker.
Harkishan Singh Surjeet’s death sprung an unexpected encounter.They met in the waiting room of the hospital. It was overflowing with comrades when Chatterjee rushed in to pay his last respects. There was a brief awkward moment while the crowd waited to see what would happen.But Karat’s innate courtesy saved the day. He rose from his chair and offered it with a smile to Somnath.
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Posted on August 20th, 2008
Colorful Character
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Somnath_decision_to_defy_CPM_was_an_aft erthought/articleshow/3382471.cms
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s refusal to resign on the ground that he held a constitutional post was an afterthought. So it seems from a letter he wrote to the CPM after the party withdrew support to the UPA on July 9.
In a reply to the letter sent by the party asking him to resign, Chatterjee is learnt to have first said that ideally he would like to continue as Speaker till the first Hiren Mukherjee memorial lecture (that took place on August 11). But he also said that in case CPM did not accept his proposal, he would step down from the post as desired by the party. Chatterjee’s statement of August 1, however, did not refer to this letter.
In his letter, Chatterjee is also understood to have said that he was against the Indo-US nuclear deal but withdrawing support to the UPA would result in strengthening the BJP. Nevertheless, he never declared himself to be independent of CPM — a position he later took in public to justify his defiance of the party line.
Constitution and rule books, sources familiar with the contents of the letter said, came about later