Karat should consider stepping down: Somnath

Kolkata/ New Delhi: Gunning for Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general-secretary Prakash Karat's head for the Left's electoral mauling, expelled party member and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee yesterday said the "needle of responsibility" points at Karat and he should consider resigning.

Chatterjee, who was thrown out of the party for refusing to obey the party diktat to step down as speaker during the July 22, 2008, trust vote in parliament, also described Karat's attempts to cobble up a Third Front grouping with an aim to form an alternative government as "suicidal". He said a responsible and able leadership should take over the reins of the Marxist party.

Chatterjee regretted the disastrous Lok Sabha poll results of the party in West Bengal and Kerala. The Left parties' Lok Sabha tally this time has been just 24, with the CPI-M's share at 16 - the lowest in three decades. "I am no more a CPI-M member. But I do feel sad at the present situation. Chatterjee said in a signed article in Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika.

Chatterjee said the mistakes can be rectified either through the resignation of the leadership or through a change in programmes.

"My view is that the leadership has to take responsibility for the disaster. Prakash Karat is holding the topmost post. The needle of responsibility obviously is pointed at him. And I have already said the leadership should consider quitting if its conscience permits."

Chatterjee disclosed that he had given a counter argument when the CPI-M leadership wanted to withdraw support from the United Progressive Alliance government on the nuclear deal issue last year.

"Had the Samajwadi Party not come out in support of the government, it would have fallen. Chatterjee said the withdrawal of support to the UPA was one of the reasons for the debacle of the Left.

"My view is that we could have continued supporting the government by boycotting the deal. The withdrawal of support has led to a situation where the Left parties have lost their relevance," he said.

Chatterjee also berated Karat for choosing parties like Telugu Desam Party, AIADMK, Janata Dal-Secular and Bahujan Samaj Party as partners of the Third Front.

Meanwhile The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) yesterday stated there was no question of Karat resigning from his post over the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.

"Why should he resign?" responded CPI-M politburo member Nirupam Sen to a question by IANS, as he emerged from a meeting of the party's politburo here.

He said there was no question of either him or West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee quitting over the election results."