Prakash Karat

Calcutta, July 27: Prakash Karat is learnt to have spoken of Somnath Chatterjee’s worth in Parliament and referred to him as a “valuable comrade”, apparently to smooth ruffled feathers in the state CPM over the summary expulsion.

The general secretary today explained to the party state committee the “compulsions” that led to the expulsion after several leaders, like MP Tarit Topdar and minister Kanti Ganguly, joined state secretariat member Subhas Chakraborty in publicly cautioning about the damage it could do.

Some leaders suggested that it would be difficult to explain the action as people saw it as an act of revenge after the UPA government won the trust vote with Speaker Chatterjee presiding over it. Others said the expulsion had diverted people’s attention from the fight against the nuke deal and price rise and added to the Opposition’s ammunition months before the elections.

“We consider him a valuable comrade who was in the party for 40 years. We recognised his role in Parliament and did not want to lose him. It was unfortunate that we had to expel him since we could not compromise on party discipline. But we don’t harbour any animosity towards him,’’ a state committee member quoted Karat as telling the closed-door meeting.

In public, Karat maintained the tough posture. Asked if the party would allow an appeal by Chatterjee against the politburo decision, he said: “Our party constitution has various provisions for appeal. I don’t want to say anything more.”

The CPM constitution allows suspended or expelled members to appeal before state or central commissions.

Chatterjee has so far shown no inclination to knock at the commissions’ doors. The Speaker will be in the city tomorrow and is likely to meet party patriarch Jyoti Basu.

Somnath Chatterjee

Karat denied any contradiction between his public position, which had left the Speaker free to decide whether to quit, and the expulsion for not toeing the party line. “It was for him to decide whether he would continue as Speaker. But it was for the party to decide whether he would continue in the party,’’ Karat said.

He said his presence at the two-day state committee meeting was “not unexpected or unscheduled”. It had apparently been planned to review the party’s showing in the recent panchayat polls.

At the meeting, Karat apparently said the leadership had given a long rope to Chatterjee before throwing him out. “We had left it to his conscience. But his conscience didn’t match the party’s conscience.”

CPM leaders had claimed that Chatterjee had agreed to step down despite his initial reluctance, but went back on his words later.

Karat said the Speaker had written to him after the Left’s withdrawal of support.

A central committee member said Chatterjee had tried to avoid a clash with the party. “Somnathda had declined to step down as Speaker before the vote as he was opposed to voting with the BJP. But he had offered alternatives.”

Quoting Karat, sources said Chatterjee had first wan-ted the party to allow him to continue till August 11 in view of “commitments” that included a trip to Kuala Lumpur for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meet and Amartya Sen’s lecture in Parliament. “Since it was not acceptable to the party, Somnathda was ready to step down before (the vote) but he refused to vote with the BJP. He also said he would resign from Parliament if he was forced to vote,” a leader said.

According to the party, Chatterjee had agreed to resign following Basu’s intervention but changed his mind later, saying he would step down after the July 22 vote. On July 21, the politburo had promised to consider his request on not voting with the BJP, but it wanted him to step down immediately. Chatterjee declined.

The politburo expelled him when he did not resign by July 23 evening.

Most state committee members said they were “satisfied” with Karat’s explanation, but the CPM’s embarrassment and worries were evident from its media communique, which neither mentioned the expulsion nor the explanation.