Author: ENS
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 1, 2010
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/very-important-comrade-said-manmohan-singh-w/654433/
Launching a fierce attack on CPM general secretary
Prakash Karat, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has accused him
of going against the political formulation and ideas of the CPM by joining
hands with "forces of crime and corruption" in the name of the Third
Front during the last Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking to The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief
Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7's Walk The Talk programme broadcast tonight, Chatterjee
said he believed that the late Communist patriarch Jyoti Basu had made an
effort to prevent his expulsion from the party.
Chatterjee also spoke about the exaggerated
sense of image acquired by some CPM leaders during the time of UPA I because
of their proximity with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi.
"That is my understanding. I feel that...
they came to realise that if their yes was essential for the government to
take a decision, their no was enough to put it in cold storage... Somebody
had said here...I am not naming that very important comrade... that Manmohan
Singh will get up when we ask him to get up, he must sit down when we ask
him to. What is the mentality behind it? What is the perception behind it?"
he said.
On the Third Front, Karat's dream electoral
project, Chatterjee said it was "disastrous." He underlined that
the CPM joined hands with "forces of crime and corruption which we have
always fought compromising at least on two sides... The dangers were ignored...It
was contrary to the CPM's political formulation, ideas and understanding.
You can't just join hands with everybody and
anybody."
Without taking names, he made it known that
his barbs were aimed at Karat. Referring to Jayalalithaa and Mayawati, he
said, "Everybody knows who are (the) persons...with whom they were sitting
and talking. Some of India's leaders were standing with him. He was in the
centre," he said.
About his expulsion, Chatterjee maintained
he was "surprised and shocked" by the fact that the party did not
serve him "even a show cause notice" before taking the decision.
He said Karat had repeatedly stated - to him,
during three press conferences and once in a statement - that it was upto
the Speaker to take a decision on resigning before the trust vote.
"It is painful that for public consumption
they make one statement and inside they were doing something else. While he
told me, told three press conferences...they were confabulating and taking
a decision," he said.
Talking about his remark in the book that
Karat was arrogant, Chatterjee said: "Arrogance comes from the way he
dealt with the issue....Got rid of a person who was a member for 40 years...I
was the (party's) leader in the House for 19 years....Suddenly I became untouchable.."
he said.
Asked whether Basu made an effort to prevent
his expulsion, "I don't think he did not try. He tried. He tried. But
I don't think he was listened to." He also spoke about the letter Basu
had written to the party, which he also mentions in his forthcoming memoirs
Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a Parliamentarian.
"That is admitted. A note was written.
I didn't say what are the contents because I don't know. ...So far as I as
came to know from reliable sources that he has sent a handwritten note."
Referring to Politburo member Biman Basu's criticism, he said "Comrade
Biman said that how does he know the contents of the note. He does not deny
there was a note. I haven't said anywhere that I know the contents of the
note. How can he say I am telling a lie?"
Responding to criticism that he was miffed
at Karat for not considering him for the President's post, he said such charges
were a "concoction" as he never ever asked anybody to consider him
for the top post. However, he did say that "the situation had become
that one nod would have been sufficient...one nod from the person from who
would decide finally. But that was not done."
Asked whether that person was Karat or Sonia
Gandhi, Chatterjee said: "I would not invoke Sonia because I do not belong
to her party." He also reiterated that the withdrawal of support to UPA
I came on a wrong issue. It should have been on issues like price rise. He
said nobody bothered to discuss the decision with him.
