New Delhi, July 12:Two days after Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee indicated that he was in no mood to resign, the CPM appears to be firm in its view that he will have to demit office before the trust vote in Parliament on July 22.

For the record, the party leadership claimed it had not directed Chatterjee to step down but sources clearly said the party’s view has been conveyed to him and his resignation is just a matter of time.

On July 7, speaking to The Indian Express, Chatterjee had said: “I have not discussed the issue of my resignation from the Speaker’s post in the event of the Left parties’ withdrawal of support but I am aware that anybody may create trouble for me if I stay on...What I have been saying always is that I will not stand for elections to Parliament again.”

It is clear that the 79-year-old former central committee member is giving the CPM some anxious moments. Chatterjee’s name figures in the list of 60 MPs who have withdrawn support to the UPA government and the CPM holds that it was a matter of propriety that he step down before the confidence vote. As Speaker, he doesn’t have a vote in the House unless there is a tie which seems unlikely. So for the party, it’s more of proving a point than anything else.

Especially when the Congress said that it wants no change. “The party does not want that there should be a change (of Speaker). We had an excellent relationship with the Left for over four years. Even if we fell out on the issue of the nuclear deal, that does not mean we will be hunting for their people. We will continue to extend full courtesy to the Speaker,” AICC Media cell chairperson M Veerappa Moily told The Sunday Express. Chatterjee is expected to meet CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu in Kolkata tomorrow and his resignation may come anytime after that, sources said.

Amid speculation about his future course of action, Chatterjee’s office had issued a statement two days ago saying “the Honourable Speaker does not represent any political party in the discharge of his duties and functions.” “He was not elected (Speaker) as nominee of any party. In the discharge of his duties and functions, he does not owe allegiance to any political party,” the statement had said raising the hackles of the CPM’s top brass.

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