New Delhi: Taking strong exception to the charge that he was indulging in "tanashahi" (dictatorship), Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today (Dec 16, 2004) observed that he would have no "regrets" in leaving his post.

"If members are not happy with the present incumbent I shall have no regrets in leaving it. I was happy facing the chair than occupying it," Chatterjee made the remark soon after the House assembled this morning in the wake of yesterday's (Dec 15, 2004) uproar, which had led to adjournment of the House for the day.

"The chair does not have any prestige any longer and has become totally irrelevant and it has become a matter of agony for me to occupy this chair, which I never expected to do, far less solicited," the Speaker said.

"So long as I am here I shall try my best to discharge my duties and functions according to the rules of procedure and my conscience," he said.