Tamil Nadu Politicians condoles Somnath Chatterjee's demise

Chennai, Aug 13: Tamil Nadu leaders on Monday condoled the death of former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

Chief Minister K. Palaniswami said that Chatterjee, elected to Parliament 10 times, presided over the Lok Sabha between 2004 and 2009 expertly.

PMK founder S. Ramadoss said Chatterjee was a man of impeccable integrity and earned the respect and friendship of all party leaders.

DMK leader M.K. Stalin said Chatterjee was a good friend of his late father and DMK President M. Karunanidhi.

Chatterjee was admitted to the hospital on August 10 due to kidney ailments. He was on life support ever since.

Somnath Chatterjee was the Lok Sabha Speaker from 2004-2009 under the UPA government. After CPI(M) withdrew its support from the UPA government owing to the India-US nuclear deal Somnath Chatterjee was asked to resign as Speaker. He was expelled from the CPI(M) in 2008 after he refused to resign.

Politicians, leaders condoled the veteran leader's death.

He lost only one election in his lifetime to Mamata Banerjee from the Jadavpur constituency in 1984.