EC probe into office of profit issue dubious, says Somnath

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is hurt over how the Election Commission played a "very, very dubious role" after then President A P J Abdul Kalam referred the Office of Profit issue to it, acting on advice that was "not correct".

Chatterjee, who completes four years in office on Wednesday, is also concerned about the image of the members of Parliament in view of the growing negative perception about them.

In an interaction with a select group of media-persons, the Speaker also sought to build bridges with the Opposition saying he had "no issue with anyone except the smooth running of the House."

The veteran parliamentarian, who has the distinction of a record ten terms and 38 years as a member of the Lok Sabha, is bitter about the EC turning an investigator into the office of profit issue allegedly involving him. "....Deliberately the Speaker was targeted on the basis of false information... The EC played a very, very dubious role," Chatterjee says.

"The EC tried to investigate when the complainant said that he has no information in support of the charge. They became an investigator. They wrote to West Bengal government," he says, adding that he was not given any opportunity to explain his position.

Chatterjee's reference was to the complaint against him by a Trinamool Congress activist on the office of profit issue for his heading the Santiniketan Sriniketan Development Authority.