The CPI(M) on Monday hit out at Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee accusing him of giving “factually incorrect” arguments to justify his decision to continue in office, escalating the war of words between him and the party ever since his expulsion from its fold.

The party is planning to come out with a detailed statement, which would be a point-by-point rebuttal of Chatterjee’s contentions, to make it clear that as far as the party is concerned he had “seriously compromised” the position and official line of the CPI(M) by remaining in office.

Sources in the CPI(M) also made it clear that general secretary Prakash Karat and some senior leaders had told Chatterjee that his continuance in office had become “untenable” after the Left’s withdrawal of support to the UPA Government much before the Politburo had officially asked him to step down.

In response to Chatterjee’s statement, CPI(M) Politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai said the party had “not interfered” with the Speaker’s constitutional functions or duties and noted that as a party member it was his primary responsibility to abide by its decision.

“We allowed him to accept the post as Speaker in the context of our decision to support the UPA. Once the support is withdrawn, his continuance in office becomes untenable. We asked him to step down, but he refused. What he did was he refused to abide by the decision of the party,” Pillai told The Indian Express.

His comments were in reply to Chatterjee’s assertion that the CPI(M) should have appreciated that as Speaker he did not represent it nor could the party give any direction to him with regard to the discharge of his functions.

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