'No clash of opinion in party on Somnath's expulsion'

NEW DELHI: The CPM has once again emphasised that breach of party discipline led to the ouster of Mr Somnath Chatterjee from the party. CPM general secretary said every member of Parliament from the CPM was bound to obey the Central Committee���s decision.

Mr Karat, who mocked at those drawing a parallel with the British system on the Speaker issue said they were ���barking up the wrong tree���. He said in India it was a reality to continue affiliations with the party even after a person became the Speaker.

He recalled that former Speakers like Shivraj Patil, P A Sangma and Manohar Joshi did not end their affiliations with their respective parties. ���They all had resumed their party affiliations and activities after ceasing to be Speaker,��� Mr Karat told Kairali TV.

Mr Karat said the ���disquiet��� over Somnath issue within the party was a creation of the media. On media reports about ���resentment��� in the West Bengal unit over the way the Chatterjee issue was handled, Mr Karat said he did not get that sort of response when he attended the state committee meet recently. ���I have attended the state committee. I reported the Central Committee���s decision. We have the largest number of Central Committee members from West Bengal and also in the polit bureau,��� he said.

Mr Karat said the Speaker���s defiance forced the party to take the extreme step. ���It is unfortunate. In our party we take pride in maintenance of discipline. We don���t have such situations normally in our party. It is unfortunate that it had happened with a person of the stature of Somnath Chatterjee,��� he said.

���We are not going into the question of defections or disqualification. For us it is a straightforward matter. The decision to continue as the Speaker was his. The decision that he should cease to be a member of the party is that of the party. Once he decided to be there on the Speaker���s chair on July 21 and 22 (during confidence vote in the Lok Sabha), we decided to sever our relations,��� Mr Karat said.