Somnath packs punch after Left hook

The former Speaker said he had never said “the Left had some foreknowledge that the ‘cash-for-vote’ row would come up during the trust motion in the Parliament nor had I insinuated that there was some coordination between the BJP and the Left in this matter”.

“I get the impression that in its anxiety to justify its unfathomable decision that has brought the party to its present sorry state,the CPM has made a desperate effort to indulge in character assassination.”

In the three-page statement,Chatterjee criticised the party leadership for forging a Third Front “with disparate elements with ridiculous assurance to its members that it would come to power and provide opportunity to the party’s general secretary even to head such a government.”

Chatterjee said sections of supporters and members of CPM had extreme reservation about the efforts of the Central leadership to cobble up a Third Front.

“They were bewildered at the almost desperate and comic attempts of the leadership to come closer to certain political outfits,many of which are embodiments of crime and corruption in politics. Even the die-hard supporters of the party could not countenance such deviations in its policies and basic philosophy.”

Recalling his long association with the CPM,he said the rejoinder was a clear attempt to indulge in “deliberate falsehood,calumny and character assassination” to justify the party’s untenable action against a member who had without self-interest been in the state and Central committee.

He said it was now well known that large section of the party had not supported his arbitrary expulsion and claimed that many members and active supporters of the CPM were still in touch with him.

Chatterjee said though many had urged him to give his views on his expulsion,he had refrained from doing so.

“I did not make any allegation against the party and admitted that the party had the right to expel me and there was no occasion for me at all to ask for a review of the same or to file an appeal.”