By IANS,
New Delhi : Calling former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee a “great human being”, former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee Friday recalled how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran stopped him from quitting during his early days as speaker.
It had all started with a letter written by Vajpayee, chairperson of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA), who wrote alleging that Chatterjee was biased and that his conduct was not up to the mark. An upset Chatterjee was preparing to quit when Vajpayee intervened.
“I felt very sad,” Chatterjee told reporters at a press conference, recalling that he was preparing his resignation letter the next day when Vajpayee came to his residence to express his faith in him.
“Vajpayee is a great human being. Great person. He came to my house and said I have regards for you,” said the former Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader, who was ousted from the party when he did not abide by the party’s diktat during the trust vote in parliament last July.