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Conscious decision to uphold Constitution: Speaker

NEW DELHI: By not resigning from the position of Speaker of the Lok Sabha, as demanded by his party in a private communication to him on July 20, Somnath Chatterjee said he took a conscious decision “not to accept a position which would totally compromise the sanctity of the most important legislative office in the country.”

Three weeks after speculation began on his resigning from his position following the withdrawal of support by the Left parties to the United Progressive Alliance and nine days after his expulsion from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Mr. Chatterjee broke his silence on Friday through a five-page statement posted on the Speaker’s website.

Giving a detailed account of what transpired between him and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) over the last few weeks leading to his expulsion days after the trust vote was won by the government on July 22, Mr. Chatterjee said: “I have consciously taken the principled decision to uphold the Constitution of India at the risk of being unjustifiably dubbed as anti-party.”

Noting that he was elected unanimously to the Lok Sabha after 18 nomination papers were filed in his favour by ruling as well as opposition parties, Mr. Chatterjee said he had assured all members of the House then he would discharge his responsibilities in a non-partisan manner.

“I have said … I have no matter or issue of my own, except to see that the House runs according to the Constitution and its Rules of Procedure and Conventions, to which only, I owed and owe allegiance to as long as I remain Speaker.”

He suggested that in view of the raging controversies, based on the CPI(M)’s contention that even as Speaker the Member of Parliament continues to be under the direction and control of the party, a convention should be developed that during the tenure as Speaker, he or she should “temporarily resign from the membership of the party” so as not to face a situation which compromises the position as Speaker vis-À-vis his or her party.

Mr. Chatterjee laid out the sequence of events of the last few weeks. On July 6 Mr. Karat met him and explained the party’s stand on the nuclear deal.

On July 9 Mr. Karat “telephonically conveyed [to me] that a section of the party felt that my continuation as Speaker may be untenable. However, it was stated that the final decision would be taken by me,” Mr. Chatterjee noted. The same day he “was surprised to learn from the media” that his name had been included by the CPI(M) in the list of its MPs given to the President of India while communicating to her that the party had withdrawn its support to the United Progressive Alliance.

However, on “several occasions since July 9,” Mr. Chatterjee said, Mr. Karat and other important members of the CPI(M) reiterated that it was for the Speaker alone to take a decision regarding his resignation.

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