Somnath takes on Karat, says don't make me quit

After refusing to quit his post despite pressure from the CPI-M leadership, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has now written to party General Secretary Prakash Karat saying he doesn't want to vote with the BJP against the Manmohan Singh Government.
In the letter that was sent on Monday, Chatterjee politely explained that he wasn't against the party's ideology or anybody in the leadership.
He said he only wanted to know why the party has decided to vote alongside the BJP in the trust vote. He also said he didn't want to cling to the Speaker's chair but if he didn't preside over the trust vote, he'd have to vote with the BJP, something he couldn't bring himself to do.
Meanwhile, former speaker Rabi Ray told a news agency that Chatterjee should not resign from the post.
"The Speaker should work as a neutral person in Parliament. Chatterjee has been discharging his work as a Speaker perfectly," Ray told IANS.
"It would be unfortunate for the Parliamentary democracy if the name of the Speaker is dragged into controversy," added Ray, criticising those who have been demanding Chatterjee's resignation.
Chatterjee, a CPM MP from Bolpur in West Bengal, was elected Speaker of the lower house as part of the CPM-led Left parties' understanding with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in 2004.
As the Left parties withdrew their support to the UPA Government last week, the CPM listed his name among its MPs in its letter to President Pratibha Patil.
Chatterjee has been under pressure to quit the post following his party's decision to withdraw support to the Government.
In a statement released recently, Chatterjee had claimed that the Speaker doesn't belong to any political party. In fact CNN-IBN has learnt that he is upset with the inclusion of his name without his consent.
He has already announced that this will be his last election and so he doesn't want to end his parliamentary career on a bitter note. He is also believed to be upset with his party colleagues for not backing him during the presidential polls, when he was keen on contesting.
However, Karat has sought to play down reports of the party putting pressure on Chaterjee to step down from office.
In a statement released on Monday, Karat said, “A lot of speculation is going on in the media regarding the position of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Comrade Somnath Chatterjee. I have already stated that any decision will be taken by the Speaker himself. This has been reiterated by the Speaker through a statement by his office on July 10, 2008. We do not want the office of the Speaker being dragged into any unnecessary controversy".