May ask him to take charge of a one-man commission to study parliamentary privileges.
Somnath Chatterjee today left New Delhi for a retired life in his own house at West Bengal’s Shantiniketan. He may be back in the national capital soon because the Manmohan Singh government has drawn up a rehabilitation plan for the former Lok Sabha Speaker.
Chatterjee has been sounded by the top brass of the government to take charge of a one-man commission to study an important topic that is also close to his heart — parliamentary privileges. “The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government feels that the issue of privileges of Parliament needs to be studied in a better way and it may require some changes in the current situation of the country. Somnath Chatterjee can provide valuable suggestions as he has vast experience in the Lok Sabha,” a top UPA minister told Business Standard.
Chatterjee is currently a politician without any party. His new post will be at the rank of a cabinet minister.
Even as his own party — the CPI(M) — dumped him in July 2008, Chatterjee continued to enjoy warm relations with other political parties, especially the Congress. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Chatterjee on Saturday for a courtesy call as he was leaving Delhi as a “retired politician”. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also paid a courtesy visit to the former Speaker on Friday.
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During his tenure as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha (2004-2009) Chatterjee fiercely tried to guard the privileges of the legislative bodies and even raised voice against Supreme Court rulings on this issue. Chatterjee’s experience as a top-class lawyer will be an added advantage to carry out a comprehensive study on the issue involving legal intricacies.
The rehabilitation offer for Chatterjee also comes at a time when the doors of the CPI(M) seem to remain locked for him. Even as the party suffered an embarrassing defeat in the 2009 general elections (winning 16 seats as against 44 in 2004) there hasn’t been any serious discussion in the party to take him back. Initially, Chatterjee was maintaining silence in the hope that he will find the way back to the red fort of the CPI(M) but there were no murmurs in the top CPI(M) leadership in his favour. A disheartened Chatterjee soon started attacking CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat publicly and further distanced himself from the powerful Karat lobby.
Chatterjee had served the CPI(M) for more than 40 years. He spent 32 years in Parliament and barring the last 10 months, he was a CPI(M) member in the Lok Sabha. But he was summarily expelled from the party when he defied Karat’s orders to step down and vote against the Congress-led UPA in the Trust Vote in the Lok Sabha over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
So his Bengal lobby CPI(M) comrades in Kolkata — who spoke more to the media and less in crucial party meetings in support of Chatterjee — may also take rest from shedding crocodile tears for him as the Congress comes forward to keep the octogenarian active for a few more years.
Top Congress leaders suggest the prime minister is personally keen to give Chatterjee a key assignment that suits his stature. Earlier, the UPA government was contemplating making him an envoy to which Chatterjee remarked in his close circle, “I can’t go to airport and receive all visiting ministers.” A section of the Congress mooted the proposal to make him a governor but that was perceived below the status of the Speaker’s chair which he had already occupied successfully.
Somnath Chaterjee may once again return to his favourite address — Parliament of India. Not as a member anymore, but with an equally important responsibility.