New Delhi, Kolkata July 23: The day after the UPA won the trust vote as the Opposition began expelling its MPs who had crossed over, the CPM took action against the man who played the referee in the debate. For refusing to resign after the party withdrew support to the government, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today was expelled by the CPM.

His crime: “seriously compromising” the position of the party.

Left Front chairman in West Bengal and Politburo member Biman Bose said: “He (Chatterjee) had communicated to the party that he would resign on July 23. But he did not keep his word. The party had to, therefore, act. He was following the Indian Constitution but we have to follow the party Constitution.”

Politburo member and Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said the party had decided to take action against Chatterjee before the trust vote. And that the decision was announced only today to ensure that the “discussion on the motion did not veer away from the issue at stake.”

There was no word from Chatterjee.

The extraordinary and rare decision, dubbed as “unavoidable” by senior leaders, was taken by the “available Politburo” which met here. Chatterjee had refused to step down citing his inability to vote along with the BJP in the trust vote as the reason and arguing that the Speaker’s post was not linked to any political formation.

“This action has been taken under Article XIX, clause 13 of the party constitution for seriously compromising the position of the party,” the Politburo said in a statement announcing the 79-year-old Chatterjee’s expulsion. Article 13 says “in exceptional circumstances, Party Committees in their discretion may resort to summary procedure in expelling members for grave anti-party activities.”

The Politburo was attended by General Secretary Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, S R Ramachandran Pillai, Sitaram Yechury, Mohd Amin, M K Pandhe and K Varadarajan.

The party leadership expected Chatterjee to quit and had included his name in the list of MPs who had withdrawn support to the ruling coalition without consulting him, a step that angered the veteran Marxist leader. The party later claimed that it was a clerical oversight that his name was included in the list.

As Chatterjee refused to relent, the party leadership roped in his mentor Jyoti Basu to persuade him but that did not work and he continued to remain in office.

“It is logical. He brought it upon himself. No Communist party worth the name would have allowed somebody like him to flout the unanimous decision of its Central Committee. I think they were left with no alternative but to expel him,” said CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan.

The news of Chatterjee’s expulsion came as a shock to many of his party colleagues in Kolkata. Only Subhash Chakrabarty, a West Bengal CPM state secretariat member and the state’s Transport and Youth Affairs minister went on the record: “I am deeply pained at this development. I am sad. I will let my party know my feelings at the appropriate time.”

Sources close to Chatterjee in Kolkata said that once he decided to Chair the motion, he gradually began dissociating himself from various posts, including primary party membership. He initiated this process by resigning from the chairmanship on Sriniketan-Santiniketan Development Authority, under state urban development department, 48 hours before the confidence motion.

Reacting sharply to the CPM Politburo’s decision, the Congress today slammed Karat and said the Left had no faith in parliamentary democracy. “If Karat had any faith in Parliamentary democracy, he would not have done it. What wrong has the Speaker done? Is conducting the House during Trust Vote an offence against the Constitution or the party? Mr Chatterjee enjoys the highest reputation as Speaker,” AICC media cell chairperson Veerappa Moily said.

“There is some fight between Stalinists and moderates in the CPM. The other day, Prime Ministership was denied to Jyoti Basu. Now there is this assault on the Speaker. With this the personality of the Speaker has gone up, while that of Prakash has gone down,” Moily said.