Oppn to blame for House mess: Speaker

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee alleged that the disruptions and confrontations that marked the 14th Lok Sabha were organised by the Opposition.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Sunday alleged that the disruptions and confrontations that marked the 14th Lok Sabha were organised by the Opposition.

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Without mentioning the BJP, he said the “pre-arranged confrontations” were so blatant that the Opposition party’s chief whip would come up to him and declare that the House would not be allowed to run.

There was also a “design” to create pandemonium and prevent the House from functioning when currency notes were flaunted during the confidence vote in July 2008, he said, adding that unlike now, in previous Lok Sabhas the disruptions were never planned.

In an interview to CNN-IBN, Somnath also said he was ready for a confrontation with the Supreme Court when the 10 MPs expelled in the cash-for-query scandal had approached the court. “I have probably told nobody except my officers... Even if Supreme Court would have ruled that expulsions were illegal, I wouldn’t have allowed them to enter. Then either I would have gone or something else. I am disclosing a secret to you...’’.

Somnath also touched on the subject of appointment of judges by judges themselves. “It is bound to give rise to vested interests. There is no outside consideration…There should be checks and balances everywhere.”

In his view, former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was not correctly advised on the “ridiculous” charge against him of occupying an office of profit. “They were unverified... false just as it was alleged that I was the President of the Asiatic Society.”