By IANS
New Delhi : His supporters in the party want to see him in Rashtrapati Bhavan, although the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leadership is bitterly opposed to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee pitching for the country's top post.
According to CPI-M sources, the party does not favour any of its leaders taking up crucial constitutional posts because it would have serious repercussions for the party that believes in ideological purity in this era of coalition politics.
The party says that if Chatterjee were to become the president now and if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were to take power in 2009, the CPI-M leader would end speaking for the government before parliament's budget sessions and when he travels abroad.
"It will be extremely embarrassing for a person like Chatterjee to represent a rightwing government," a CPI-M MP from West Bengal told IANS.
Party sources added that the CPI-M also did not want one of its men to become the president because it would entail taking support from the Congress, which is a frequent target of Marxist criticism.
"If a CPI-M man becomes the president as a UPA (United Progressive Alliance) candidate, people will laugh at us for attacking the government while taking their help to get into Rashtrapati Bhavan," the MP argued.
However, those who want Chatterjee as the country's head of state say these arguments are not tenable.
"If the communists do not want to take up a constitutional post, why did they field Lakshmi Saigal against A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2002?" asked a leader of the party from southern India who did not want to be named.
To such criticism, politburo member Sitaram Yechury says that Saigal's candidacy was an act of protest against BJP's unwillingness to give former president K.R. Narayanan a second chance as president.
Chatterjee supporters also point out that the Left parties had campaigned for Narayanan, who was a Congress candidate in Marxist mould and that he had been in the post when the BJP ruled India.
In the process, the Left favourite did end up speaking for a BJP government. CPI-M sources say just as Narayanan stood up to BJP over the Gujarat violence of 2002, nothing prevents a Marxist president from opposing government actions.
"Why have you made Chatterjee the speaker of the Lok Sabha?" asked a party leader, reacting to the leadership arguments that it would like to shun constitutional posts.
A Lok Sabha speaker, this leader said, also has to work closely with the government, even if he is not in agreement with the government or its policies.
Determined to have their way, those backing Chatterjee have given their points of view in writing to the CPI-M politburo, which meets Friday and Saturday here to discuss several issues including upcoming presidential elections.