Somnath speaks his minds, won't vote with BJP

New Delhi: Senior Communist party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has written to his party General Secretary Prakash Karat telling him he can't go along with the Bharatiya Janata Party on the Vote of Confidence against the United Progressive Alliance Government.

Chatterjee is also not giving up the Speaker's chair without a fight. He has fought his best to maintain decorum in the Lok Sabha and now he is putting up a brave fight against the party.

In the letter sent to Karat, he has politely explained that he doesn't want to cling on to the Speaker's chair.

But he doesn't understand with all due respect to the party why it is voting alongside the BJP. He is of the view that after occupying the Speaker's chair for more than four years, it is now impossible to vote with the BJP.

Earlier, Chatterjee had said that his was a constitutional position and he had an impartial role.

Interestingly, his stand has already found echo in a section of the Left with West Bengal Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty having joined the chorus.

"I cannot be happy if circumstances lead to such a position that the CPI-M and BJP come together and take a decision to fight together and bring down the UPA Government, "Chakraborty says.

Chatterjee's stand is becoming a major embarrassment for the CPI-M. After all, the man defiantly resisting the party's line is no ordinary Member of Parliament.

He holds one of the highest constitutional positions in the country

If Chatterjee abstains, it will be difficult for the party to present a picture of unity.

And the Speaker already has many sympathisers. One of them is Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh who says, "As a Speaker he has discharged his duties impartially and he belongs not just to the CPI-M but to all political parties."

Chatterjee has nothing to lose. His constituency Bolpur (West Bengal) has been already declared reserved after delimitation and may not be nominated again.

And so for him an ideological standpoint is all that matters in the autumn of his political career.

(With inputs from Sougata Mukhopadhyay)

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