Left demands Vajpayee to express ''regrets''

New Delhi, Aug 10 (UNI) The Left parties today demanded that the former prime minister and BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee express ''regrets'' for his ''derogatory'' letter to the Lok Sabha Chair, questioning his fairness and impartiality and said that they did not ask for his ''apology'' out of respect.

''We have also not moved a Privilege Motion against such a senior MP out of respect, we leave it to the wisdom of Mr Vajpayee, but it is unfortunate that the BJP is misusing his personal goodwill,'' CPI Floor Leader in the Lok Sabha Gurudas Dasgupta told newspersons here.

Without indulging himself in any controversy, the CPI veteran said some reports alleged that Mr Vajpayee had signed the letter ''under duress'', but chose not to divulge the details. ''The BJP's misuse of the personal goodwill of Mr Vajpayee is seriously affecting the fundamentals of our Parliamentary democracy.'' Mr Dasgupta also made it clear that the Left parties simply wanted to put on record how the House had been denigrated by such a senior MP and to ensure that it was not repeated. ''We had no intention to obstruct the proceedings of the House.'' The CPI veteran, when reminded about the BJP's reported plea that they had no other option, told UNI that ''it is a plain lie,'' while adding that the BJP did not tolerate even a mild criticism of its leadership.

Earlier at a press conference, Mr Dasgupta, flanked by other senior party leaders - Ajoy Chakraborty, C K Chandrappan and S Sudhakar Reddy, also deplored that the BJP was so ''intolerant'' about ''valid criticism'' of its leadership that ''it loses all reason and sense of fairness''.

Answering a specific query whether the Left would allow the Lok Sabha to conduct its business tomorrow, the Left leader said indeed they had given a notice for call attention today on floods in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and some parts of Chhattisgarh.

''Indeed, we wanted to take a minute to put on record the issue of the letter and stress that such an unfortunate thing should not happen again,'' he said.

Mr Dasgupta said Mr Vajpayee had got every right as an MP to write to the Chair, but his party should not have made it public, which was simply aimed at denigrating the office of the Speaker.

''Had it been a confidential letter, there should have been no objection. The letter is so derogatory in tenor and tone. We have seen the Parliamentary record and found that no MP had ever commented on the office of the Chair in this fashion.'' Earlier in the day, the Left and the BJP fought over the letter in the Lok Sabha, forcing the adjournment of the House for the day.

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