“We haven’t interfered with his constitutional functions and duties. He was a party member at that time and we only asked him to abide by the party’s decision,” he said, adding that Chatterjee derived his position by virtue of his being a member of the party and an MP belonging to the CPI(M).

Pillai said the CPI(M) leadership had conveyed to him that his continuance in office after withdrawal of support was “untenable” and Chatterjee’s assertion that it was only on July 20 that a Politburo member told him that he should resign before the trust vote was “factually incorrect”.

Senior leaders said though the party’s official line was that it was for the Speaker to take a decision keeping in mind the circumstances consequent to the withdrawal of support, the understanding was that Chatterjee would step down before the trust vote as the decision was that all MPs would vote against the Manmohan Singh Government.

The CPI(M) also rejected the proposal mooted by Chatterjee that an MP should temporarily resign from the membership of the party once he is elected as Speaker so that the person should not face a situation which compromises the position of the Speaker vis-a-vis the party. “There have been many Speakers in India and so far none of them has said the party is interfering with their constitutional functions and duties. This proposal is just a way to justify his decision to continue in office. There is no need for such a new convention,” Pillai said.