Somnath chosen Lok Sabha speaker

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Somnath Chatterjee was on Friday morning unanimously chosen speaker of the Lok Sabha.

The 75-year-old leader's name was proposed by Congress Parliamentary Party leader Sonia Gandhi and seconded by Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee.

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Members from all sections of the House thumped their desks as pro tem Speaker Baba Saheb Vikhe Patil announced Chatterjee's name.

Seventeen other leaders, including Sharad Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party), Laloo Prasad Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Ram Vilas Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party) and Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party) proposed the Marxist's name. Others seconded it.

As the pro tem speaker declared after a voice vote that the CPI-M leader was the unanimous choice, Chatterjee, wearing a white kurta, dhoti and waistcoat, assumed the Chair.

He is the first Communist leader to occupy the high office.

Chatterjee enjoys a good rapport with leaders across the political spectrum -- his unanimous election to the Chair stands testimony to it.

Considered an aristocrat among the proletariat, Chatterjee studied at Cambridge and became a barrister-at-law from Middle Temple, England.

If one goes by his family background, Chatterjee is an unlikely Marxist. His father, the late N C Chatterjee, once a Lok Sabha member, had been president of the Hindu Mahasabha.

But his son joined the CPI-M in 1968 and has been one of the party's leading spokesmen ever since.

A recipient of the Distinguished Parliamentarian Award in 1996, Chatterjee has been associated with a number of parliamentary committees.

The wealth of experience Chatterjee gained while serving in various committees of the House is expected to stand him in good stead during various debates.