In the computation of the strength of either the ruling party or its allies or of the Opposition, no responsible person or authority can treat the Speaker as belonging to or extending support either to the Government or its allies or to the Opposition. Thus the question of the Speaker withdrawing support to the Government can never arise. It is only the House as a whole which can decide whether the Speaker should continue to remain as such or not, apart from his / her own decision to relinquish, if there is any such occasion.

It was made clear through a statement issued on my behalf on 10 July, 2008 that as Speaker I did not represent any political party in the discharge of my duties and functions nor did I owe any allegiance to any political party and that my election was not only uncontested but was also unanimous and that I was not elected as the nominee of any Party. The media was requested not to drag the highest legislative office of the country into controversy by speculative reports and undeserved innuendoes.

On several occasions since 9 July, 2008, the General Secretary and other important members of the Party reiterated that as Speaker it was for me alone to decide on my stand in the matter. It is important to recall in this connection, the press statement issued by the General Secretary of the CPI (M) on 14 July, 2008 in which he stated that:

“A lot of speculation is going on in the media regarding the position of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Comrade Somnath Chatterjee. I have already stated that any decision will be taken by the Speaker himself. This has been reiterated by the Speaker through a statement by his office on July 10, 2008. We do not want the office of the Speaker being dragged into any unnecessary controversy.”

... contd.