A B Bardhan, general secretary of the Communist Party of India, had gone on record that the Left parties would like Chatterjee to be the official presidential candidate.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and other passengers onboard a Jet Airways flight had a narrow escape on Sunday when their plane had to abort landing and take a 'go-around' after the pilot spotted another aircraft on the runway.The Southern China Airlines was on the ground and was taxiing for take off on runway 29. The aircraft came onto the runway due to some apparent communication gap.
Noting that communalisation and criminalisation have "greatly vitiated" the political system of the country, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee warned on Sunday that the future of democracy can face serious problems if urgent corrective steps are not taken.
As a newspaper article with critical references to him created a flutter in the House on Friday, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said on Saturday that he had never held that he was above criticism.
Maintaining that contrary opinions should not be ignored, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said former Lok Sabha Speaker and expelled Communist Party of India - Marxist leader Somnath Chatterjee had "risen above his party and his ideology to do what he believes is right".
He will now preside over the proceedings of the first two days of the House when new members take oath.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who was expelled by the Communist Party of India-Marxist for refusing to quit his post despite the party directive, has expressed his desire to quit politics and do charitable work, former CPI-M MP Saifuddin Chowdhury claimed.
About 43 MLAs and 200 MLAs have been named.
Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh on Tuesday alleged that six Lok Sabha Members of Parliament from his party were being forcibly kept inside the Uttar Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi ahead of the crucial trust vote and charged Bahujan Samaj Party chief Minister Mayawati with playing coercive politics.Talking to newsmen before the second and final day of the special session of the Lok Sabha, Singh said one or two of them might be rebels from his party.
The expulsion of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the Communist Party of India-Marxist for defying the party diktat to step down ends on a bitter note the political journey of a man who was the Marxist outfit's most articulate face with liberal views in Parliament for nearly four decades.
The NDA leaders also took strong exception to the Speaker informing the media about the tape recordings of the proceedings he sent to Advani on the "behaviour" of the opposition MPs in the House.
The Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee who held an all-party meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday, said the whole country was under scrutiny and not just members of Parliament alone after the Mumbai terror attack.
Joining issues with the British delegation in Malaysia, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday asserted that no "deal" was made to support Malaysia's candidature to a senior post in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association election for which is to be held tomorrow.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will soon decide the fate of the 19 Members of Parliament who defied their party whips during the trust vote on July 22. These MPs can be disqualified under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
Left parties are pre-poll allies of the Congress, which is leading the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
"After the 12-day session, Feb 26 will be the last day for me," he told a select group of journalists describing s "the worst period of my life" his tenure in the post which came to him "unexpected and unsolicited".
The Lok Sabha speaker also expressed fear over "growing" judicial intervention in political matters.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker and expelled Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Somnath Chatterjee on Monday said Jyoti Basu, whom he considered as his 'political guru', had asked him to preside over the crucial trust vote debate in the lower house in 2008, saying that the party cannot give any direction to him as he held a constitutional office.
On the outskirts of Santiniketan, in a sprawling bungalow, lives an octogenarian gentleman with his wife. The hurly-burly of the outside world does not disturb the peace there.
The India-US nuclear deal was aimed at ending India's nuclear isolation and nuclear apartheid, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
Coming to the defence of beleaguered Justice AK Ganguly again, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Thursday said it would be a 'travesty of justice' if the Supreme Court was requested by the Centre to probe into the allegations against him afresh.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Monday took a swipe at the Aam Aadmi Party government, saying the country cannot run on 'Mohalla Sabhas' and a law cannot be decided on the streets.
Speaking at the inauguration of his book, former Speaker and Parliamentarian Somnath Chatterjee called on youngsters to join politics and try change the system from within. Indrani Roy reports
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The curtain has been finally brought down on the reference of disorderly conduct of 32 parliamentarians to the Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha. Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, through an order issued on Tuesday, has withdrawn from the Committee the references relating to 31 opposition National Democratic Alliance Members of Parliament, for their disorderly conduct in the House on April 24.
It will be starting from the scratch for several leaders, big and small, with the redrawing of Parliamentary constituencies as their pocket boroughs have disappeared following the delimitation exercise.
In a letter to Chatterjee, Vajpayee endorsed the NDA's plans not to attend Lok Sabha for a day as a mark of protest against the speaker.
Leader of Opposition L K Advani moved the motion.
Chatterjee told a private TV channel that he had already appealed to Banerjee to end her hunger srike and join the Lok Sabha session.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee inaugurated the company's year-long platinum jubilee celebrations on Wednesday.
BJP MP Ratilal Verma complained in the Lok Sabha that certain multinational, and even Indian, banks were refusing to give loans to politicians and their relatives.
BJP patriarch Vajpayee and Lok Sabha Speaker Chatterjee, the senior-most and the only two ten-term MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha, will not be contesting the general elections this time for different reasons.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could undertake a foreign visit during the Parliament session, but other ministers should not go abroad without his permission.
A day after his angry outburst against some MPs for disrupting Lok Sabha proceedings, a regretful Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today withdrew his critical remarks, saying he had made these in "little frustration".
Ravi said that a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs had been fixed with the agenda of proroguing them, to have a fresh session in February with the Presidential address on the first day.
Says rules will be implemented strictly next time
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he bowed down to the Speaker's observation, and admitted that an ordinance in taxation matters should not be promulgated.
An all party meeting will be convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee next week to discuss the issue of alleged misconduct of members in the backdrop of the human trafficking case.
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