Somnath Chatterjee

Calcutta, July 26: Somnath Chatterjee has broken his silence three days after his expulsion from the CPM, saying he would answer his party’s smear campaign “in a day or two”.

“I am a sinner in the eyes of the CPM and not a gentleman. That’s why they thought I deserved the summary expulsion,” an emotional Lok Sabha Speaker told The Telegraph today.

Left leaders have since Wednesday described Chatterjee, whom they considered an asset just weeks ago, as a “betrayer”, a “Mir Zafar” and a “bourgeois to the core”.

“Let them say whatever they are saying. I would like to see how far they can go,” Chatterjee said, adding he would “speak up in a day or two” to rebut the “canards” being spread about him.

Sources close to the Speaker said he was likely to visit Calcutta on Monday and meet his mentor Jyoti Basu, who was believed to have expressed unhappiness at Chatterjee’s expulsion.

Chatterjee, 79, tried to answer some of the CPM’s charges today. Asked about the allegation that he had “sided” with the government on the day of the trust vote, he said: “I tried to fulfil my constitutional obligations impartially.”

The Marxists say they were forced to expel the Speaker for staying adamant about not resigning even after the party had been “so accommodating” and exempted him from the trust vote whip. “If they were being so accommodating — to the extent of allowing me not to vote (against the government) — why were they goading me to resign?” Chatterjee asked.

He confirmed he would visit Kuala Lumpur to attend the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference from August 1 to 10 and preside over the Hiren Mukherjee lecture by Amartya Sen in the Lok Sabha on August 11.

Asked if he would continue as Speaker after that, he said: “I have not decided yet.”

Party veteran Basu kept silent today when asked if he agreed with the punishment to Chatterjee. “He won’t reply to this question,” an aide said as a stone-faced Basu left the CPM state committee meeting, where he spent an hour this evening.

Party general secretary Prakash Karat, who played the key role in Chatterjee’s expulsion, has made an “unscheduled visit” to Calcutta to explain the decision to Basu and the Bengal leadership. He is believed to have spoken alone to Basu during the evening recess at the state committee meeting.

Party sources claimed Basu had approved Chatterjee’s expulsion after learning from Karat and state party secretary Biman Bose that it was a “unanimous” politburo decision.

They claimed that the former chief minister had himself persuaded the Speaker to resign on July 14, five days after the Left withdrew support to the government.

“Somnathda agreed to resign after Jyotibabu told him to but changed his stand under pressure from the Congress. Also, he felt his personal and constitutional commitments were bigger than his commitment to the party,’’ said a CPM central committee leader who did not want to be identified.

He claimed that Chatterjee later went back on a second promise – given to politburo members Sitaram Yechury and Bose -- to step down on July 23, the day after the trust vote. Chatterjee could not be contacted again for his response to the claims made by the CPM leader.

CPM leaders Bose, Benoy Konar and Nilotpal Basu, too, harped on the July 23 argument, apparently to suggest that Chatterjee’s refusal to resign ahead of the trust vote wasn’t the key reason for his expulsion. To buttress this point, other sources questioned Chatterjee’s behaviour during the House debate.

Party MPs said Chatterjee had “grossly violated” the Lok Sabha floor leaders’ agreement in his chamber by allowing the National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, the People’s Democratic Party’s Mehbooba Mufti and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Owaisi to speak in the House.

“After the din over the bribery scandal, it was decided there would no more discussion and the Speaker would go for voting. But Somnathda changed the decision at Pranab Mukherjee’s insistence and allowed these three Muslim leaders to attack the CPM. It was clear to us he was being remote-controlled and had made up his mind to leave the party,’’ a Bengal MP said.

“Jyotibabu has also been asking party MPs about Somnathda’s role in the House on the day of the trust vote,’’ a central committee member said.

A party MP said Chatterjee could have chosen softer options, such as staying back in Hyderabad, where he had gone for an eye examination. Or he could have stepped down immediately after the vote. “The party would have considered milder disciplinary action -- like a show-cause, suspension or internal censure -- even if Somnathda had promised to step down after August 11. But he didn’t budge.”

CPM leaders said the party was unlikely to move a no-confidence motion against Chatterjee if he continued as Speaker.