Speaker Somnath Chatterjee keeps everyone guessing

Even though Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee broke his silence over his resignation speculations, he still kept everyone guessing by telling the media, "It is a million dollar question...you keep on speculating". He urged the media and public to wait till July 22 to know what he was going to do.

It became apparent that Somnath Chatterjee is upset his party for putting him in an embarrassing position. The Left parties had included Somnath's name on the list of MPs that withdrew support to the UPA government. Somnath tried to put up a brave face by stating that Speaker's post is above party politics. However, Left parties are not relenting and they want the veteran CPI(M) leader to resign.

There have been speculations in the media that Somnath Chatterjee is going to quit both Speaker's post and CPM membership once the trust vote is over. However, the veracity of such reports is not yet established. Meanwhile the CPM sources said that there was nothing wrong in including Somnath's name in the list of MPs withdrawing support to the UPA government, as he was elected on a party ticket.