CPI-M soon to decide on Somnath's continuing as Speaker:Brinda

CPI(M) will soon take an "appropriate decision" on Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee continuing in office in the wake of the left parties withdrawing support to the UPA government, party's politburo member Brinda Karat said in Kasargod on Sunday.

"The party central leadership is seized of the matter and would take a suitable decision shortly," she told reporters.

Asked whether it was proper on the part of the Lok Sabha Speaker continuing in his post at a time when the CPI(M) was demanding resignation of IUML leader and Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahmed over the Indo-US nuclear deal, Karat said it was not proper to equate both the issues.

The CPI-M's demand for the minister's resignation in the light of the IUML expressing reservation over the deal stemmed from the fact that Ahmed was part of the UPA Ministry while Chatterjee held a constitutional post of higher order, she said.

Karat, who was here to inaugurate a Seminar-- 'Sachar Commission Report and Kerala Society,' however, wanted to know whether Ahmed would toe the line if the Speaker quit his post as per the CPI-M's decision.

On Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan's reported remarks describing former President A P J Abdul Kalam as a 'rocket man,' Karat said the CPI(M) would denounce any person who come forward to support the Indo-US nuclear deal as "the party can never tolerate the abject surrendering of national interest to satisfy American imperialism."

Achuthanandan's remarks on Kalam were not "a personalised one. However, I am not aware of the kind of language used by him in targeting the former President," she said.