New Delhi, Apr. 15 : Leader of Opposition L K Advani skipped a farewell dinner for former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Tuesday evening.

Advani's skipping of the dinner comes amid a bitter war of words between him and Dr. Singh.

Advani has described Singh as the weakest Prime Minister the country has seen, while Singh has countered by saying he would not like to give Advani the privilege of being an alternative Prime Minister by joining a debate with him.

Did he, didn’t he? Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s alleged remarks against CPI(M) leadership had all the ingredients to disturb the fragile peace between the party and its ousted comrade of over 40 years. Somnath’s denial kept the peace.

Thiruvanathapuram, Mar 3 : Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Tuesday said that it was a matter of concern that many political movements in the country were getting increasingly removed from ideology and fundamental precepts.

Chatterjee was here to receive the first `Baby John award' for probity in Public life.

Nagaland Governor K. Shankaran Narayanan inaugurated the functioning of Baby John Foundation.

On the occasion, the Lok Sabha Speaker said that the moral degradation was affecting the vitals of Indian political milieu.

New Delhi, Feb 27 : Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday said the Speaker should disassociate himself from his party after being elected to the post.

"Speaker's disassociation will help in making the Lok Sabha impartial," Chatterjee said after the main opposition alleged that he was behaving in a partisan manner.

He said that he was ready to quit from the post sometimes back, but the timely intervention of NDA Chairman Atal Behari Vajpayee and leaders of several other parties prevented him for going ahead.

New Delhi, Feb 24 : Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today congratulated the Slumdog Millionaire team for winning eight Oscars, including three Oscars to Indians A R Rahman, Gulzar and Rasul Pookutty.

"I would like to felicitate the three Indians who have won the Oscars," Ansari said.

In the Lok Sabha, Chatterjee made a statement congratulating the awardees and the entire teams of ''Slumdog'' and ''Smile Pinki''.

New Delhi, Feb 20 : Former Rajya Sabha Vice-Chairman Najma Heptullah on Friday opposed Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's views on agitating MPs, saying that the Speaker's role is like a referee in a match.

"The Speaker is like a referee to ensure that the match goes on smoothly," Heptullah said.

Addressing mediapersons here, Heptullah said that agitations are part and parcel of democracy and an MP is entitled to agitate.

She recalled her experience of 17 years as vice-chairman of the House and said she had faced worse situations than what happened yesterday, but never said what Chatterjee had said.