Meira should quit party while holding Speaker's post: Somnath

Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Sunday suggested that incumbent Meira Kumar should quit her party while holding the post, saying that political affiliation should not lead to "conflict of interest".

"It is better if a person occupying the Speaker's post resigns from his or her party post during the tenure so that there is no conflict of interest," he told a television news channel. Chatterjee was critical of attempts by parties to use high constitutional posts like that of the Lok Sabha speaker as "gifts" to oblige party workers.

"If it is treated as gift or charity then it detracts from the position of the Speaker," he said. Chatterjee, who was expelled from CPI(M) last July for defying the party direction to quit as Speaker after the Left withdrew support to the government on the issue of nuclear deal, blamed CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat for the Left's poor electoral performance in West Bengal and Kerala.

Asked if Karat measured up to the expectations of the CPI(M) workers, Chatterjee said, "the present leadership has let the people down. They have not been able to save the party."

Chatterjee also regretted the infighting in the party in Kerala over the SNC-Lavalin graft case in which CPI(M) Politburo member Pinaryi Vijayan has been chargesheeted and favoured action against him. "The fact that things have come down to this level indicates that something is wrong with the party. A chargesheeted person is a part of the Politburo. We attacked Lalu Yadav vehemently for being chargesheeted. We attacked even LK Advani. The same principle should be followed here too," he said.