Kolkata : Condoling the demise of former Lok Sabha speaker and veteran parliamentarian Somnath Chatterjee, a section of CPI(M) leaders in West Bengal on Monday “expressed regret” for not being able to re-induct him into the party. Chatterjee was expelled from the CPI(M) in 2008 for refusing to resign as speaker after his party withdrew support to the UPA-I government over the India-US nuclear deal. He passed away at a city hospital this morning at the age of 89.
“It will be a lifelong regret for all of us that we could not take him back into the party. We are facing a tough situation today and it would have been of great help if he was with us. We tried to woo him back in the past, but failed in our efforts,” Senior CPI(M) leader Nepaldeb Bhattacharya added.
No red flag drape
Somnath Chatterjee’s family on Monday turned down the request of the CPI-M leadership to drape the expelled member’s body in the red flag and allow him to be taken to the party’s West Bengal state headquarters here for people to pay their last respects.