Calling it an “unhealthy convention,” Supreme Court advocate KT S Tulsi said: “I think Left is being extremely unreasonable with the Speaker. The entire House elected him and it is only the majority vote of the house, by which he can step down.”

Taking it a step further, Rajeev Dhavan, another senior advocate of Supreme Court summed it up, “No Speaker can be asked to resign just because the party on whose seat he was elected as a Member of Parliament, is indulging in number games. It’s improper for the Left to compel the Speaker to step down and it would be more improper for Somnath to succumb to the pressure,” advised Dhavan.

Joining the chorus, former Union Law Minister Shanti Bhushan felt: “It is completely wrong on the part of Left to give his name to the President and now creating a situation, where he’s left so embarrassed. It’s totally unethical on the part of Left, he should have been consulted before hand. It’s his decision. No decision or law or any provision in the Constitution binds him to step down from the post of Speaker. Karat and other Left leaders are actually destroying the esteemed office of the Speaker.”

“They (Left) should have avoided such a scenario putting him to deep embarrassment,” according to P P Rao, another senior advocate. He pointed that since the Speaker’s office, is neutral, does not support or oppose the government, there’s no question of withdrawing his support. “As far as resignation is concerned, it is his individual discretion. No party can ask a Speaker, even if it’s the party on whose ticket he entered Parliament to quit,” Rao added.

... contd.