Somnath sees red

The war between Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee and CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat is out in the open.

First Somnath Chatterjee told NDTV in an interview over the weekend that before last year's trust vote he had advised the party not to withdraw support to the government, calling it a mistake. Then Prakash Karat hit back questioning Somnath Chatterjee's morality.

And on Wednesday, it was Somnath Chatterjee's turn to hit out at Prakash Karat.

"My attention has been drawn to a statement made by Prakash Karat in which he has surprisingly imputed certain alleged motives to me for upholding the sanctity of the office of the Speaker, due to my supposed personal interest," he said.

The speaker was responding to the CPM's chiefs comments which questioned Somanth's  impartiality as Speaker.

Earlier, Karat had said: "By admitting his pro-Congress stand, Chatterjee has exposed the moral high ground he took that the Speaker is above politics."

"His support to the Congress-led government and his continuance as the Speaker are inter-connected," he had said.

But the CPM leadership is clear that Somnath should have followed the party line.

"It is a sign of a party that there are differences of opinion on any issue. But once the party collectively takes a decision, everyone follows," said Sitaram Yechury, Politburo Member, CPM.

For now, Somnath Chatterjee has only rejected Karat's statement. But the Lok Sabha Speaker has made it clear that he will come up with a more detailed response once the elections are over.