New Delhi, July 19: The CPM Central Committee on Saturday avoided discussing the embarrassing issue of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's defiance of the party's decision to quit the post and instead took up issues like the possibility of elections in November and how to tone up its machinery.
Party sources said the Speaker's resignation issue is expected to come up during Sunday's deliberations.
Chatterjee has not abided by the party's wish that he steps down as Speaker and votes against the government in the July 22 trial of strength.
On the demand by two party MPs for the resignation of Chatterjee, a senior party leader said any decision on the matter has been left to the veteran parliamentarian himself.
"We have been consistently maintaining that the party will not do anything to denigrate the high constitutional post. It is upto him," he said.
The party has excluded the Speaker's name from the whip to vote against the confidence motion.
The CPM leader said that the party should be geared up for general elections which could be held as early as November.
The CPM leadership briefed the meeting about the hectic parleys between the Left parties and BSP, TDP and others aimed at evolving a common strategy to defeat the UPA government.
It should be noted that there were reports that the CPM has split down the middle over the trust vote. The two factions of the CPM the Kerala faction and the Bengal faction are divided over the issue.While the Bengal faction does not favour a vote against the government, the Kerala faction, headed by the party general secretary Prakash Karat is leaving no stone unturned to drive the UPA out of power.
One of the primary issue that has become a cause of contention between the two factions is that of the Somnath Chatterjee who has refused to resign from the Speaker’s post even after the withdrawal of the Left’s support to the UPA government. The Kerala faction wants Somnath to resign.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, July 19, 2008, 00:00