Expulsion will not affect tenure

New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was yesterday expelled from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) with immediate effect for violating party discipline.

The CPI-M politburo, which met here yesterday to take stock of the situation following the party's failure to dislodge the ruling coalition from power during Tuesday's trust vote after their withdrawal of support, took a unanimous decision in this regard.

"This action has been taken under Article 19 Clause 13 of the Party Constitution for seriously compromising the position of the party," the CPI-M said in a statement.

Sources close to Chatterjee have said that he has no intentions of stepping down from the post even after his expulsion, terming it as a sad development considering he had been associated with the party for the past four decades. Chatterjee is all set to attend the 10-day Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting in Kuala Lumpur from August 1.

The CPI-M leadership was embarrassed by Chatterjee's stout refusal to resign as the Lok Sabha speaker following the Left withdrawal of support to the government. Chatterjee, who turns 79 tomorrow, presided over the voting on the trust motion.

While the CPI-M wanted him to quit his constitutional post, Chatterjee retorted by threatening to resign from both the post as well as from the party, infuriating the top leaders of India's largest leftist party.

Chatterjee, who has been a member of Parliament ten times, had made it clear to the party leadership that he was against the idea of voting along with the rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party but had promised to vote against the government by casting his decisive vote in case of a tie.

The CPI-M PM had taken the line that Chatterjee was a party lawmaker before being the Speaker and was thus bound by party discipline.

Ties between the party leadership and Chatterjee worsened when his office objected to the inclusion of his name on the list given by Left Front to the President while officially withdrawing their support to the government without his consent. Unlike some western countries, Lok Sabha Speaker has to contest elections. Chatterjee became the first Communist leader to occupy the post after the Congress party-led UPA come to power with the outside support of the Left Front in May 2004.

Chatterjee had, however, made it clear that he would not contest the next general elections, which was seen as part of his growing distance from the party. His traditional Bolpur constituency of West Bengal has now been reserved for the scheduled castes which would have forced him to scout for a new constituency.