Somnath won't resign, to preside over trust vote

New Delhi: As the numbers game progresses, the man who is to preside over the trust vote is finding it increasingly hard to hang on to his post.

Before he came in to take the chair, Chatterjee presided over a meeting of the floor leaders to discuss the modalities of the two-day debate and nobody raised the issue of his resignation there.

"I don't have to impress upon the importance of the motion that is going to be debated. The whole nation is watching. In the time available fullest opportunity will be given to members," he said before start of the debate, appealing to members to maintain the dignity of Parliament.

"There may be some 'toka-toki' (interruptions), but order should be maintained. The Chair has no subject of his own except that the House is run," he said.

CPM sources have told CNN-IBN that the party had asked Somnath Chatterjee to resign as Speaker late on Saturday night to step down before the start of the trust vote.

The recently concluded Central Committee meeting of the party had deliberated on the issue.

The party has been asking him to quit the post ever since the Left parties withdrew support to the Government on the Indo-US nuclear deal but the Speaker has been maintaining that he is above party politics.

Somnath is now presiding over the trust vote defying party diktat. He had also raised concerns over the party's decision to vote alongside the BJP.

(With inputs from PTI)