Somnath Chatterjee congratulates Indian Oscar winners

September 23rd, 2009 KOLKATA - Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee Wednesday said that politics of confrontation should be avoided and that there were "some national issues which we need to achieve working together". Chatterjee was speaking at the inauguration of Ambuja Realty's 'Ecospace' Business Park here Wednesday.

May 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Following a chest congestion, outgoing Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was admitted to the Army's research and referral hospital here on Thursday. His condition is said to be stable and he has been advised complete bed rest for a few days.

May 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was Thursday admitted to hospital with chest congestion, his office said. Chatterjee has been admitted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi.

May 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Saturday advised the CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat to take responsibility of his party's no-show in the Lok Sabha elections, and resign. Chatterjee was expelled from the CPI(M) last year, when he refused to quit as the Lok Sabha speaker on the nuclear deal issue.

May 13th, 2009 KOLKATA - Questioning whether the Left parties were indeed getting stronger, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said Wednesday that their importance lay in the fact that 'no one is ignoring them'. 'Is the Left getting stronger?' Chatterjee asked while replying to questions related to the strength of Left parties in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

May 10th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee says he is trying to bring former party leader Somnath Chatterjee back to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and has spoken to comrades in Kolkata and Delhi on the issue. In an interview to Bengali news channel Star Ananda, Bhattacharjee - a member of the CPI-M's top policy making politburo - said he felt pained at losing a leader of the calibre of Chatterjee.

April 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lashing out at Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for his comment that withdrawal of support by the Left parties to the UPA government was a mistake, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Monday said it revealed his 'pro-Congress stand'. The outgoing Lok Sabha speaker had in an interview to NDTV said he had cautioned the Left parties against withdrawing support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over the India-US nuclear deal last year.

April 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Somnath Chatterjee, the speaker of the outgoing Lok Sabha, Monday congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the successful launch of the RISAT-2 spy satellite and an educational satellite. 'The country is proud of ISRO scientists for this remarkable achievement, which will provide a boost to India's capabilities in a number of areas, including disaster management and in better management of cyclones, floods, agriculture-related activities,' Chatterjee said in his congratulatory message.

February 28th, 2009 JAMMU - The Jammu and Kashmir assembly Friday congratulated music composer A.R. Rahman and other Indian members of the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' for winning the Oscar awards.

February 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Calling former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee a 'great human being', former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee Friday recalled how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran stopped him from quitting during his early days as speaker. It had all started with a letter written by Vajpayee, chairperson of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA), who wrote alleging that Chatterjee was biased and that his conduct was not up to the mark.

February 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had emerged as a role model in transacting the business of the house, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday, the last day of the 14th Lok Sabha. In a message read out by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the prime minister said: 'In transacting the business of the parliament you have become the role model.' With his conduct, the speaker had raised the bar of standard of the office for others to follow, the prime minister, who is recuperating after a coronary by-pass surgery, added.

February 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The teams of Oscar winning films 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Smile Pinki' - both of which were based in India - were Tuesday praised in the Lok Sabha, with Speaker Somnath Chatterjee terming the success of composer A.R. Rahman, lyricist Gulzar and sound technician Resul Pookutty as 'a historic achievement'.

February 22nd, 2009 DHAKA - The restoration of democracy in Bangladesh is a 'positive development' for the entire South Asian region, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said here. Chatterjee, who arrived here Saturday on a three-day visit, praised the landslide victory of the centrist and left-of-centre grand alliance led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

February 5th, 2009 KOZHIKODE - Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Kerala state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan Friday called Lok Sabha Speaker and former party member Somnath Chatterjee as the 'biggest traitor of the party'. The comment came during a rally here when state Cooperation Minister G.

January 12th, 2009 KOLKATA - Senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and West Bengal Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty has written to party state secretary Biman Bose asking that Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee be reinstated into the party. 'I've already written a letter to Biman Bose since he is the instrumental head of the party in West Bengal.