The day after the UPA won the trust vote as the Opposition began expelling its MPs who had crossed over, the CPM took action against the man who played the referee in the debate. For refusing to resign after the party withdrew support to the government, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today was expelled by the CPM.

His crime: “seriously compromising” the position of the party.

Left Front chairman in West Bengal and Politburo member Biman Bose said: “He (Chatterjee) had communicated to the party that he would resign on July 23. But he did not keep his word. The party had to, therefore, act. He was following the Indian Constitution but we have to follow the party Constitution.”

Politburo member and Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said the party had decided to take action against Chatterjee before the trust vote. And that the decision was announced only today to ensure that the “discussion on the motion did not veer away from the issue at stake.”

There was no word from Chatterjee.

The extraordinary and rare decision, dubbed as “unavoidable” by senior leaders, was taken by the “available Politburo” which met here. Chatterjee had refused to step down citing his inability to vote along with the BJP in the trust vote as the reason and arguing that the Speaker’s post was not linked to any political formation.

“This action has been taken under Article XIX, clause 13 of the party constitution for seriously compromising the position of the party,” the Politburo said in a statement announcing the 79-year-old Chatterjee’s expulsion. Article 13 says “in exceptional circumstances, Party Committees in their discretion may resort to summary procedure in expelling members for grave anti-party activities.”

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