While West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay has pointed out that the Leader of the Opposition Surya Kanta Mishra should not publicly criticise a decision taken by the Speaker, the former Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, on Monday told The Hindu, “I would not be so touchy if I were the Speaker.”
During the day, Dr. Mishra protested the refusal of permission by Mr. Bandopadhyay to hold press conferences at the media centre on the Assembly premises when the Assembly was not in session, by holding one on the streets outside the Assembly.
Mr. Bandopadhyay said that a decision of the Speaker was not liable to scrutiny.
On being asked about Mr. Bandopadhyay's decision, which has created a political storm with strong criticism from the Left and a section of the Congress leadership in the State, Mr. Chatterjee said that it was “not necessary.”
“I am not questioning the authority of the Speaker, neither am I criticising the Speaker's decision, but in my opinion it was not necessary to take such a decision,” he said, adding that he did not foresee a problem of hosting a press conference if the room and staff were available.
Mr. Chatterjee said that when he was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha he never felt it necessary that anyone should approach him for permission before convening a press conference. “In the 40 years of my experience in Parliament, I have never faced such a situation…At Parliament, journalists would often come to my office when I was the Leader of the Party,” he said.
Pointing out that the Opposition had an important role to play in a democracy, Mr. Chatterjee said they should be allowed to speak to journalists at the Assembly, which is a public building.
