Former Lok Sabha speaker passed away

Somnath Chatterjee, former Lok Sabha Speaker, passed away Monday morning following a multi-organ failure at a city hospital. He was 89. Chatterjee was admitted at Belle Vue Clinic last Tuesday following a kidney related problem.

On Sunday he suffered a heart attack and was put on ventilator support. “He passed away at 8.15 am today due to multi-organ failure,” said Pradip Tandon, CEO of Belle Vue Clinic.Somnath Chatterjee underwent treatment for 40 days and was discharged just for three days after his health showed signs of improvement.

Chatterjee was the Speaker in the first five-year term (2004-2009) of the United Progressive Alliance government and was elected to Parliament’s Lower House for ten times since 1971. He was expelled from the CPM in July 2008 for refusing to resign as Speaker after his party CPM withdrew support from the UPA government.