KOLKATA: Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who passed away this morning, had never said anything against the CPI(M), although he was "pained" after the Left party expelled him, his daughter said.
"We could see his agony and pain (after expulsion from the CPI-M). He loved the party throughout his life," Anushila said, adding that she had tried to make Chatterjee speak against the party, but her father never did it.
Chatterjee was expelled from the CPI(M) in 2008 for refusing to resign as the Speaker after his party withdrew support to the UPA-I government over the India-US nuclear deal.
"We don't want any courtesy from them (CPIM). They have shown enough courtesy," she told a news channel here.
Anushila, however, said many in the party kept contact with her father and some of them also came today.
The CPI(M) leaders, she said, proposed to place the party flag on Chatterjee's body.
"(But) we did not agree, though my father might have been happy (if his body was draped with the party flag). Some of the West Bengal CPI(M) leaders faced the wrath of Chatterjee's son, Pratap, who said, "You used my father, now you have come to show sympathy. Stop this drama."
When asked about it, CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty said, "It is better not to discuss it in this day of grief. He was above this. He was loved by all."
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, politburo member Surjya Kanta Mishra and Biman Bose were among others who visited his residence here.
When asked that the politburo statement did not mention Chatterjee as a 'comrade', which the state committee did, Yechury said, "As a party we condoled his death. It is a great loss for democracy. His guidance was required today. I enjoyed a good relationship with his family," he added.
Mishra, the CPI(M) state secretary, said they did not ask Chatterjee's family members to drape his body with the party flag or take his body to the party's state headquarters at Alimuddin Street.
"His family will decide what they will do," he said.
A section of CPI(M) leaders in the state expressed regret for not being able to re-induct him into the party.
Senior CPI(M) leader Nepaldeb Bhattacharya said many leaders visited Chatterjee in the last few years to convince him to rejoin the party, but the issue could not be resolved.
"It will be a lifelong regret for all of us that we could not take him back into the party. We are facing a tough situation today and it would have been of great help if he was with us. We tried to woo him back in the past, but failed in our efforts," he added.
When the body was taken out of his residence, CPI(M) activists raised slogans -- "Somnath Chatterjee amar rahe (Long live Somnath Chatterjee)", "Red salute to Somnath Chatterjee."