By IANS,
New Delhi : The simmering tension between Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and his parental party Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) was evident in the house during the discussion on the trust motion moved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday.
When CPI-M’s Mohammed Salim began to speak, Congress MP Giridhar Gamang was seen seeking the chair’s permission to make an intervention. Irritated over Gamang’s move, Salim asked the speaker: “What is this, sir?”
Basudeb Acharya, Salim’s party leader in the Lok Sabha, came to his aid and remarked that the speaker “should bring order in the house”.
A visibly angry Chatterjee retorted: “Will you help me? I will ask you to come and sit on this chair and bring order.”
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An embarrassed Acharya kept silent.
The newly forged friendships among the political parties over the India-US civil nuclear deal were reflected in the visitors’ gallery of the Lok Sabha Monday. In the seats allotted for the Rajya Sabha MPs, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja was seen seated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, even before the session began.
However, when some journalists in the reporters’ gallery gestured to him that he was in “good company”, an embarrassed Raja got up and went away. After waiting for some time, he returned to that seat in the front row.
Opposite the visitors’ gallery, Samajwadi party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, the ruling party’s foe-turned-friend, was seen indulging in serious conversation with former Congress MP Surinder Kumar Singla.