Somnath's allegations are rubbish, says CPI-M

Accusing Somnath Chatterjee of making 'false assertions' in his forthcoming book in which he launched a scathing attack on General Secretary Prakash Karat, the Communist Party of India - Marxist on Monday said the former Speaker had agreed to quit over the Indo-US nuclear deal issue but had backed out later.

"Somnath Chatterjee had earlier in a letter to the party dated July 9, 2008 agreed to abide by the decision of the party and resign from the post of Speaker. He later backed out from this commitment to abide by the party decision," the CPI-M Politburo said in a statement.

Chatterjee had launched a vitriolic attack against Karat in his book, saying 'disastrous policies and misguided' actions of the current leadership had resulted in the major debacle in the 2009 general elections.

In the statement, the CPI-M maintained that all the views expressed by Chatterjee "are just post-facto justifications of a person who defected to the ruling establishment".

It said Chatterjee has made 'a number of false assertions' and maintained that it was "totally wrong to say that five members of the Politburo decided to expel him the day after the trust vote session of the Lok Sabha was held".

Rebutting his charges that Karat and a few others had decided to expel him, the statement said a meeting of the full Politburo on July 19, 2008, had taken the decision to take disciplinary action against Chatterjee.

The Left parties had then decided to withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance government over the nuclear deal.

"The Politburo decided to convey to Somnath Chatterjee once more the decision that he should forthwith resign from Speakership and not preside over the Lok Sabha session on the trust vote. The Politburo concluded that if he refused to do so he should be expelled from the party as it would amount to helping the Congress-led government.

"The Central Committee of the party which met on July 20 was apprised of the situation and it authorised the Politburo to take disciplinary action against Chatterjee if he violated the decision," the statement said.

The Politburo also maintained that it was "unfortunate that Chatterjee has sought to draw Comrade Jyoti Basu's name into this matter when he is no more".

Karat had refused to respond to the accusations on Sunday, saying the party will react to the allegations made by the former Speaker.

CPI-M Politburo member Biman Bose on Monday rubbished Somnath Chatterjee's scathing comments on party general secretary Prakash Karat and criticised the former Lok Sabha Speaker for dragging Jyoti Basu's name into the controversy.

"I feel that these are rubbish. If somebody wants to malign the party, that is in bad taste and is sad," said Bose, the state party secretary.

Criticising Chatterjee for dragging late CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu's name into the controversy, Bose said, "Anybody can present a dead man's comments anyway he wants to. Whether he has really said that cannot be confirmed or denied".

"Jyotibabu is no more; one should not put words into his mouth. Communist etiquette does not allow such behaviour," Bose, who is also the Left Front chairman, said after a LF meeting.

He said Basu's was a handwritten note, which Chatterjee had quoted in the book and questioned how the former Speaker could have access to it when he was not a member of the politburo.

Bose denied media reports that he had said the party whip did not apply to the Speaker. "Party discipline applies to all members. How does one who was not present at the CPI-M politburo meeting know what was in Basu's note," Bose asked.

"I have not heard Jyoti Basu saying anything like this," Bose said, referring to Chatterjee reportedly suggesting in his memoirs that late CPI-M patriarch had advised him not to resign as Speaker.