New Delhi, July 17: Under fire from his own party, the CPM, for not stepping down as Speaker of Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee is learnt to have decided that he will preside over the trust vote in the House on July 22 and, in the event of a tie during the floor test, will cast his vote against the UPA government.

With the CPM central committee due to meet over the weekend to decide, among other things, Chatterjee’s fate, sources close to the Speaker told The Indian Express that “he is committed to staying in office for the trust vote”. The sources said that Chatterjee was in touch with and had met several friends and experts over the past two-three days.

“His dilemma is one between the institution of the Speaker and the moral commitment to the party that made him an MP in the first place. He sees nothing wrong in discharging his duties as Speaker on the day of the vote in the House. But if there is a tie during the trust vote, he will cast his vote in line with the CPM stand,” the sources said.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin Choudhury, the former CPM MP who was shown the door by the party for suggesting, among other things, that it join hands with the Congress, has offered Chatterjee the “supportive hand of an experienced person”. He claimed he had been in touch with Speaker over the past week.

“As a person who has undergone what Somnath is going through now, I can give him one or two tips on how to survive the party,” he said.

“There are quite a few parallels between Somnath and me. We have raised our voice against the party’s political foolishness and its backward-looking policies. It seems that Somnath’s fate is going to be similar to mine. The party cannot stand those who question the leadership even if they are on the wrong side of political wisdom,” Choudhury said.