Nearly a week ago when former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee received an offer from the Congress party to become a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, it was not for the first time that the former CPM leader was courted by the ruling party to accept some coveted positions.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Chatterjee said on Friday that nearly four months ago, he had received offers to become Governor and Ambassador from the UPA government.

“But I turned down all those offers. I never worked under anybody and now also I cannot do that. I have very little needs,” said the octogenarian leader who is currently spending most of his time at Santiniketan.

On October 21, Chatterjee wrote to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram rejecting the government’s latest offer.

“I cannot answer why Congress offered me the post. You are free to interpret it,” said Chatterjee.

“ But if I had accepted the offer, people would have said that I accepted Congress party’s offer, which I would not have been able to digest. That is one reason why I did not accept the Centre’s offer,” he added.

“And the second thing is that after spending 40 years in Lok Sabha where I was the Speaker for five years, I did not think I would have been able to contribute much to the Parliament. Moreover, a nominated member does not have much scope,” he added.

Various social activities initiated by the former Lok Sabha Speaker at Santiniketan keep him pre-occupied.

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