A week after it shied away from joining the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at Centre, the Left parties today failed to reach a decision on veteran CPI(M) leader Somnath Chatterjee taking up the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.The decision was put off till May 26, with the CPI(M) Politburo divided on the issue. Though this time round there was a feeling that the refusal would not go down well with the people, a section of the party felt that with Chatterjee taking up the neutral post of Lok Sabha Speaker, the party would be robbed of one of the most forceful Left voices in Parliament.In exchange, the CPI(M) gets a post that is not only mainly ceremonial but also requires a certain standard of parliamentary conduct from the person who occupies it.Though former West Bengal chief minister and stalwart Jyoti Basu was among the first to object to Chatterjee accepting the offer, asking ‘‘Who would run the party in the House?’’, he later withdrew his objections, only to have his successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharya raising similar doubts.Four Left parties—the CPI, All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and RSP, along with the CPI(M)—met after the CPI(M) Politburo meeting, but failed to arrive at a decision on the Speakership. The Politburo would meet again ahead of the Left meeting on May 27 to decide on the matter.Apart from that, the Left meeting today also considered the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) draft prepared for the UPA coalition.Later at night, the Congress, UPA allies and the Left attended a meeting at Sonia Gandhi’s residence, where it was decided that the final draft of the CMP will be released on May 27.The formation of the coordination committee, which will monitor the implementation of the CMP, will also be finetuned at the May 27 meeting, CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechuri and CPI’s D Raja said.
