Pranab throws rulebook at CPM

The CPM’s breach of privilege notice against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appears to have run into trouble in Lok Sabha, reports Saroj Nagi.

The CPM’s breach of privilege notice against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appears to have run into trouble in Lok Sabha.

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Although Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is yet to give his ruling on an issue which is still under his consideration he told the House, the matter came up at the meeting of party leaders in the presiding officer’s chambers when Lok Sabha was adjourned on Monday morning amid din.

At the meeting, Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee is believed to have ticked off CPM’s Basudeb Acharia saying that a breach of privilege notice against a member has to be given in the House of which he belongs.

Singh, who has been accused by the Left of not abiding by his promise to revert to Parliament before the government signs the nuclear deal, is a member of the Rajya Sabha.

At the CPM’s regular briefing, Sitaram Yechury alleged that the ruling party was taking recourse to technicalities.

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had given his assurance in Lok Sabha.

The CPM had given breach of privileges notices in both Houses. “We want the Rajya Sabha chairman to give his ruling,” Yechury said, ruling out any discussion on External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s statement on the nuclear deal until this issue is settled.

“Till the matter of privilege notice is settled, we don’t think any discussion is warranted on the nuclear deal which has been signed…We do not want to provide any legitimacy to a government which has not stuck to its own assurance and also gone against the majority view of the House on the deal,” he said.