07-24-2008, 07:26 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Partyless Speaker </b>
Pioneer.com
Santanu Banerjee | New Delhi
The three-week war of nerves between Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and CPM general secretary Prakash Karat ended along expected lines on Wednesday as the Politburo expelled Chatterjee "for grave anti-party activity". The CPM invoked clause 13 of article 19 of the party's constitution and summarily expelled him from the membership.Â
<b>The clause states: "In exceptional circumstances, party committees may resort to summary procedure in expelling members for grave anti-party activity."</b>
Party insiders said the war between Karat and Chatterjee actually began with a note from the Speaker's office on June 29, in which Chatterjee wanted to quit the Speaker's post as well as his Lok Sabha membership. But Karat's advised him to quit as Speaker and join the party MPs in the Lok Sabha.
Incidentally, Karat moved cautiously on Wednesday and called a meeting of the Left Front leaders, informing them of the Politburo decision that Chatterjee was expelled from the party. "We had to inform them as he was allowed to become a Speaker with the consent of the four Left parties which extended support to the UPA Government," a CPM leader told The Pioneer.
According to insiders, while Karat's serving the information to Left Front leaders was hailed as a move in the right direction, the party would have to wait and see the political fallout with regard to the West Bengal comrades who do not necessarily belong to the Karat camp.
However, <b>insiders said the expulsion of Chatterjee, who has never been a mass leader but served only as an elite face of the CPM</b>, was not expected to create a major dissension like it did when a more powerful mass leader and former Tripura Chief Minister Nripen Chakraborty was expelled not only from his party membership but also from the Politburo. Though Chakraborty was rehabilitated just a few days before he died, his expulsion created serious problems in the initial stages for the party in Tripura.
Instead, party insiders feel that the <b>Politburo decision would only bring discipline back into the party, which has suffered a loss of face because of supporting "an anti-people Government like the UPA".</b>
Questioning the timing of his expulsion, BJP claimed the CPI(M) acted late in firing him from the party as it wanted him to preside over the trust vote. <b>If they had expelled him a day before, the Speaker would have had no moral authority to preside over the House proceedings, he said. "The party which claimed high discipline and standards have now got exposed with one of its senior members defying its orders," he said.</b>
The Congress backed Somnath, coming out openly in support of him after the veteran marxist was expelled. Complimenting Chatterjee for being an excellent Speaker, Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said, "He has been an exceptionally good Speaker and exceptionally fair."
Meanwhile, within hours of his expulsion, several leaders from the ruling UPA coalition thronged his residence to express their solidarity with one expressing readiness to accept the veteran Marxist in his party.<b> Among those visiting Chatterjee were Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz and Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi. RJD leaders Devendra Prasad Yadav and Sadhu Yadav also went to meet Chatterjee at his residence.</b>
Incidentally, the expulsion ended Chatterjee's 40-year association with the party, which he joined in 1968 and became the party's first MP in 1971. He was elected party MP for 10 times, barring in 1984 when Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee defeated him from Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency of south Kolkata. After the defeat, party allotted him the Bolpur constituency in Birbhum district.
The first communist to hold a constitutional position, he became the Speaker in June 2004 when four Left parties agreed to support the Congress-led UPA coalition at the Centre.
Chatterjee, son of a prominent Hindu Mahasabha leader, NC Chatterjee, happens to be a Cambridge-educated postgraduate. He also became a barrister from Bar-at-Law from Middle Temple, London, and had been a successful barrister in India. Interestingly, this has not been his first clash with Karat; he opposed the decision of Karat, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Biman Basu, Anil Biswas and Sitaram Yechury against allowing Jyoti Basu to become the Prime Minister in 1996. He was also issued a show-cause notice for his alleged pro-Congress activities along with party MP Saifuddin Chowdhury in 1992. Chowdhury was finally asked to leave the party in 1998.
According to Left sources, what fueled the party anger was the fact that he equated the CPM's decision to vote against the Manmohan Singh Government as siding with the BJP
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Pioneer.com
Santanu Banerjee | New Delhi
The three-week war of nerves between Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and CPM general secretary Prakash Karat ended along expected lines on Wednesday as the Politburo expelled Chatterjee "for grave anti-party activity". The CPM invoked clause 13 of article 19 of the party's constitution and summarily expelled him from the membership.Â
<b>The clause states: "In exceptional circumstances, party committees may resort to summary procedure in expelling members for grave anti-party activity."</b>
Party insiders said the war between Karat and Chatterjee actually began with a note from the Speaker's office on June 29, in which Chatterjee wanted to quit the Speaker's post as well as his Lok Sabha membership. But Karat's advised him to quit as Speaker and join the party MPs in the Lok Sabha.
Incidentally, Karat moved cautiously on Wednesday and called a meeting of the Left Front leaders, informing them of the Politburo decision that Chatterjee was expelled from the party. "We had to inform them as he was allowed to become a Speaker with the consent of the four Left parties which extended support to the UPA Government," a CPM leader told The Pioneer.
According to insiders, while Karat's serving the information to Left Front leaders was hailed as a move in the right direction, the party would have to wait and see the political fallout with regard to the West Bengal comrades who do not necessarily belong to the Karat camp.
However, <b>insiders said the expulsion of Chatterjee, who has never been a mass leader but served only as an elite face of the CPM</b>, was not expected to create a major dissension like it did when a more powerful mass leader and former Tripura Chief Minister Nripen Chakraborty was expelled not only from his party membership but also from the Politburo. Though Chakraborty was rehabilitated just a few days before he died, his expulsion created serious problems in the initial stages for the party in Tripura.
Instead, party insiders feel that the <b>Politburo decision would only bring discipline back into the party, which has suffered a loss of face because of supporting "an anti-people Government like the UPA".</b>
Questioning the timing of his expulsion, BJP claimed the CPI(M) acted late in firing him from the party as it wanted him to preside over the trust vote. <b>If they had expelled him a day before, the Speaker would have had no moral authority to preside over the House proceedings, he said. "The party which claimed high discipline and standards have now got exposed with one of its senior members defying its orders," he said.</b>
The Congress backed Somnath, coming out openly in support of him after the veteran marxist was expelled. Complimenting Chatterjee for being an excellent Speaker, Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said, "He has been an exceptionally good Speaker and exceptionally fair."
Meanwhile, within hours of his expulsion, several leaders from the ruling UPA coalition thronged his residence to express their solidarity with one expressing readiness to accept the veteran Marxist in his party.<b> Among those visiting Chatterjee were Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz and Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi. RJD leaders Devendra Prasad Yadav and Sadhu Yadav also went to meet Chatterjee at his residence.</b>
Incidentally, the expulsion ended Chatterjee's 40-year association with the party, which he joined in 1968 and became the party's first MP in 1971. He was elected party MP for 10 times, barring in 1984 when Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee defeated him from Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency of south Kolkata. After the defeat, party allotted him the Bolpur constituency in Birbhum district.
The first communist to hold a constitutional position, he became the Speaker in June 2004 when four Left parties agreed to support the Congress-led UPA coalition at the Centre.
Chatterjee, son of a prominent Hindu Mahasabha leader, NC Chatterjee, happens to be a Cambridge-educated postgraduate. He also became a barrister from Bar-at-Law from Middle Temple, London, and had been a successful barrister in India. Interestingly, this has not been his first clash with Karat; he opposed the decision of Karat, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Biman Basu, Anil Biswas and Sitaram Yechury against allowing Jyoti Basu to become the Prime Minister in 1996. He was also issued a show-cause notice for his alleged pro-Congress activities along with party MP Saifuddin Chowdhury in 1992. Chowdhury was finally asked to leave the party in 1998.
According to Left sources, what fueled the party anger was the fact that he equated the CPM's decision to vote against the Manmohan Singh Government as siding with the BJP
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