Kolkata: Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee passed away on Monday morning after suffering a mild heart attack. He was 89.
Chatterjee has been on ventilator support for the last five days after he was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata on Tuesday due to kidney related complications. He suffered a hemorrhagic stroke in June and was hospitalised for more than a month.
Chatterjee was the Speaker in the first five-year term (2004-2009) of the United Progressive Alliance government and was elected to the Parliament’s Lower House ten times since 1971.
He was expelled from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in July 2008 for refusing to resign as Speaker after CPI-M withdrew support from the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.The veteran leader 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.
