CPM expels Somnath Chatterjee

A day after getting adverse outcome in the trust vote, the CPM in its meeting on Wednesday expelled the veteran CPM leader and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the party. After Congress-led UPA government leading life sans Left, it was perhaps for Mr. Chatterjee to see sky outside the CPM's gamut. Left's about four-year long amicable honeymoon with the Congress-led UPA government reached at climax this month resulting into divorce was followed by another divorce within a month with the Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

A CPI-M press release said: "The Politburo of the Communist Party of India-Marxist has unanimously decided to expel Somnath Chatterjee from the membership of the party with immediate effect. This action has been taken under Article XIX, clause 13 of the Party Constitution for seriously compromising the position of the party."

However, the former Attorney General and acclaimed jurist said that Mr. Chatterjee will be remained on his post as he was elected by the House and not as a nominee of any particular political party. “His expulsion from the party has nothing to do with his continuation as the Speaker. He can be removed only if he wants to resign himself or has to be voted out," Sorabjee added.

Mr. Chatterjee already resigned from the post of chairman of the Sreeniketan-Santiniketan Development Authority, a body under the West Bengal Urban Development Department, which he had been holding since its emergence in 1989. His resignation letter read with the CPM's remark that Chatterjee should step down from the Speaker's chair. This was enough to signal the deepening crisis between Chatterjee and CPM's head Prakash Karat that was heading towards the final destination- a place where Chatterjee had no more place to stand inside the party.

Chatterjee did whatever he had said. He not only defied the party's notice demanding him to step down from the Speaker's chair as the CPM's Contention that there was no ground for him to sit on the chair once the party has withdrawn support to the government. Secondly, the CPM said Chatterjee was elected to the Lok Sabha on party's ticket so it was quite natural for him to step down.

Chatterjee responded by saying that he was not a politburo member and was above the party politics. He did not participate in party's any meeting and his chair demand him to justify his position. He has always worked for saving the dignity of Lok Sabha, so stepping down at this juncture would mean selfishness on his part, which he would never like to be.

Giving honour to his words, he remained unbiased throughout the Confidence Motion, and if, he rebuked CPM MP Mohammad Salim on two occasions on Tuesday, was part of his non-partisan duty.

It was also aired in several news channels that Somnath Chatterjee has planned to resign after conducting the Confidence Motion. The suspense was on till this evening as Mr. Chatterjee on Tuesday did not disclose whether he would quit or not and simply said: “I will decide when the time comes.”

The matter did not solve here rather worsened signalling to a worst conclusion of this spat as CPM politburo member Biman Bose repeated on Tuesday evening: “When Somnath Chatterjee was fielded support for the Speaker's post in 2004, the Left extended support to the UPA government. Now that the Left have pulled the plugs on the government, Chatterjee no longer remains a part of the ruling coalition.”

And, within 24-hrs of his statement, the CPM today in its politburo member's meeting expelled Mr. Chatterjee from the Communist Party of India (Marxist).