Somnath ignores party, chairs session
Brushing aside demands of CPI(M) to quit, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Monday presided over the special session to debate the confidence motion with an appeal to members that he has no subject of his own except that the House is run.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI : Brushing aside demands of CPI(M) to quit, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Monday presided over the special session to debate the confidence motion with an appeal to members that he has no subject of his own except that the House is run.
Before he came in to take the chair, Chatterjee presided over a meeting of the floor leaders to discuss the modalities of the two-day debate and nobody raised the issue of his resignation there.
The CPI(M), after a meeting of the Central Committee, is understood to have asked him late last night to step down before the start of the session.
The party has been asking him to quit the post ever since the Left parties withdrew support to the government on the Indo-US nuclear deal and the Speaker has been maintaining that he is above party politics.
"I don't have to impress upon the importance of the motion that is going to be debated. The whole nation is watching. In the time available fullest opportunity will be given to members," he said before start of the debate, appealing to members to maintain the dignity of Parliament.
"There may be some 'toka-toki' (interruptions), but order should be maintained. The Chair has no subject of his own except that the House is run," he said.
The Speaker said a total of 12 hours has been alloted for the discussion on the motion and the House may have to sit till 10 PM today. Tentatively, the reply of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be around 5-6 PM tomorrow after which there will be voting.
Chatterjee's wife Renu and daughter were present in the Speaker's Gallery to witness the proceedings.
Chatterjee's wife Renu and daughter were present in the Speaker's Gallery to witness the proceedings.
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