By IANS,
New Delhi : The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Thursday ruled out any possibility of expelled veteran leader Somnath Chatterjee’s return to the party.
“That issue (Chatterjee’s return to the party) doesn’t arise,” CPI-M politburo member S. Ramachandran Pillai told IANS when asked about the outgoing Lok Sabha speaker’s reported comments that he would be happy if he was taken back into the party.
Chatterjee’s desire to return to the party came after West Bengal Chief Minister and CPI-M politburo member Budhadeb Bhattacharjee last week said he was trying to bring the ousted leader back to the party.
Chatterjee was expelled by the CPI-M after he went against the party directive and refused to step down as the Lok Sabha speaker during the July 22 trust motion in parliament last year. The Left had decided to vote against the Congress-led government over the India-US nuclear deal.
Pillai said the veteran communist violated the party line on the issue of the civil nuclear deal.
“Instead of following the party line, he adopted the line of the UPA on the nuclear deal issue. And he has not changed his position,” Pillai said.
Pillai said Chatterjee was also openly making statements against the party.