First ever Communist Speaker in India

"We have considered the Congress offer and agreed to spare Chatterjee for the post," CPI (M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet told reporters in Kolkata on Tuesday evening after the party's highest decision-making forum the Politburo at its meeting there gave its stamp of approval.

The election of the new Speaker is slated for June 4 and with Congress and its allies, including the left parties, commanding the support of more than 300 MPs in Lok Sabha, 74-year-old Chatterjee, the senior most parliamentarian at present, is likely to have a smooth passage to the post.

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The CPI (M) acceptance of the Congress offer came in the backdrop of its decision not to join the Congress-led coalition government headed by Prime Minister Mannmohan Singh. Other Left parties also stayed out of the government.

The issue of the offer of the post of Lok Sabha Speaker also saw a divergence of opinion in the CPI(M) with a section of the party feeling that sparing Chatterjee for the post of Speaker would deprive it of an articulate voice during parliamentary debates on key issues.

Secondly, this sectionloosely called the hardliners--also feel that taking Parliament Speaker's post could send confusing signals to CPI(M) cadres not well versed in drawing the fine distinction between a legislative and executive posts, party sources said.

If the perception in the party rank remains blurred on the difference between the legislative and executive posts, it will be politically unwise for the CPI(M) in states like West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura where the ruling Marxist party's main rival is Congress, said the sources.

In fact, a section in CPI(M) feel that the post of the Speaker could be construed as a "functional link" between the party and the Congress-led government which could invited political backlash.

Apparently, the moderates in the Marxist party triumphed over the hawks on the issue of accepting the Speaker's post, eight years after the latter had prevented former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu from becoming the Prime Minister of a coalition government.