So upset was Speaker Somnath Chatterjee by the sight of BJP MPs waving bundles of cash in the House to allege they were being bribed to abstain from the trust vote that he confronted Leader of Opposition L K Advani at the meeting of all party leaders on Tuesday, asking him why didn’t these MPs, if they had such a serious complaint, not come to him directly.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, speaking today at the Idea Exchange programme of The Indian Express, quoted Chatterjee as telling Advani: “How can you allow such a thing to happen on the floor of the Parliament? This single incident has devalued Indian democracy and the entire world is watching it. If you had any problem, you should have come directly to me. This should not have happened at any cost. I strongly protest.”

Ravi said all that Advani could say was that “circumstances” led to such a development. Advani, he said, also accepted that what happened was “inappropriate”.

According to Ravi, the Speaker put his foot down to ensure that the session carried on with the vote on the motion of confidence. “It required a lot of grit and authority on the part of the Speaker to take a decision that Somnath Chatterjee took. We appreciate him for that,” he said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called on the Speaker today. Singh, who drove to Chatterjee’s residence, did not speak to reporters after the meeting that lasted about 10 minutes. But it is learnt that he appreciated the manner in which the Speaker conducted the House.

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