Friday, August 12 2005 14:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha today (Aug 12, 2005) witnessed a clash between members of Samajwadi Party, supported by those of Left parties, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a newspaper article containing critical references to Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, resulting in a brief adjournment of the House.

Bringing a breach of privilege notice against the author and the daily 'The Pioneer', Ramjilal Suman, SP, said the report published on August seven sought to bring the office of the Speaker into disrepute and was an insult to the entire House.

Several members from Left parties also stood up to register their protest.

Prabhunath Singh, Janata Dal (JD) United (U), said action should be taken against the newspaper and the author of the article.

Observing that he had read the article, the Speaker said "There are some people who pay lip service to Parliamentary democracy but try their best to denigrate this great institution."

"We need not take notice of all irresponsible and immature utterances made out of frustration and desperation. I treat all the motivated insinuations with contempt they deserve and close the matter,"he said.

Members from SP and Left parties vehemently protested

The members from SP and Left parties vehemently protested when BJP Deputy Leader V K Malhotra said freedom of the press cannot be suppressed.

He wanted the Speaker to convene a meeting of leaders of all political parties to discuss the issue.

The BJP leader said under the Constitution, action can be initiated against the Speaker, triggering angry reaction from the Left parties and SP.

Terming it as a serious issue, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav said in the article, the Speaker was dubbed as a 'committed' Speaker with bias towards Left parties and other insinuations were also made against him, which demeaned the high office he held.

He said while the right to freedom of expression was there, there were also certain restrictions. In no Parliamentary democracy, the Speaker is demeaned in this manner.

As the heated exchanges continued, the Speaker adjourned the House for 20 minutes. When the House re-assembled, Chatterjee said he would give his ruling on the issue on Tuesday.