Biman Bose, secretary of the West Bengal State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), dismissed as “rubbish” the former Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee's “derogatory” references to party general secretary Prakash Karat in a book.
Mr. Bose, who is also a Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M), was replying to questions from journalists on Mr. Chatterjee's description of Mr. Karat as “arrogant and intolerant” in his autobiography, Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a Parliamentarian .
“I think all this is rubbish. If by giving some inputs this way or that way someone is trying to malign the party, it is sad and [in] very bad taste,” Mr. Bose said.
Mr. Chatterjee was expelled from the party in July 2008 “for seriously compromising the party position.” Mr. Bose reiterated that “in case of a party member, party discipline is applicable.”
He also reacted strongly to Mr. Chatterjee's disclosure in the book that the late CPI(M) leader, Jyoti Basu, advised the latter not to resign from the Speaker's post and even reportedly sent a handwritten note to Mr. Karat in this regard so that the matter could be discussed in the Polit Bureau.
“Since Jyoti Basu is dead now, anyone can write 501 things about him, but in keeping with the normal Communist etiquette and rules followed by a person, I cannot comment on such remarks,” Mr. Bose said.
“How does one who was not present at the Polit Bureau meeting know what was in Mr. Basu's note?” he said.
