Accusing the UPA government of blatantly attempting to avoid facing Parliament, a CPM leader has made a veiled criticism on the role of Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, saying the Presiding Officer has ‘overlooked’ the ‘clear breach of privilege’ by the Prime Minister on the Indo-US nuclear deal issue.

"The presiding officers play a significant role in ensuring the independent functioning of Parliament and ensure accountability of the government. It is through the presiding officers that the united will of Parliament asserts itself.

"But regrettably, not only has the clear breach of privilege by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the government will come back to Parliament before signing the India-US nuclear deal, been overlooked, but without any such requirement even the Prime Minister has been handed out a clean chit," former CPM Rajya Sabha MP Nilotpal Basu said.

In an article in the latest issue of the party's mouthpiece 'People's Democracy', he said, apparently referring to Basu -- an expelled member of the party -- that even an adjournment motion on the attacks on Christian minorities, moved by the Left, was ‘outrightly rejected’ as such a motion ‘actually involved voting’.

"Did the concern of the government to avoid voting which has led to continuation of the same session from July to December also prompted the government to try and sabotage an adjournment motion and did it rub off somewhere? These are questions which will raise their heads in these difficult times facing our parliamentary democracy," he said.