Kolkata, July 28 (IANS) Under attack from his former comrades for continuing as Lok Sabha Speaker in defiance of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)’s directive to step down, Somnath Chatterjee Monday responded by saying he had a “strong case”. “My case is strong,” Chatterjee told reporters here when asked to comment on the criticism heaped upon him for not heeding to the party diktat to step down ahead of the July 22 trust vote in parliament. He was expelled from the party’s primary membership on Wednesday.

The Bolpur MP has been the target of a vitriolic attack by the Left leaders, who have branded him a “traitor”, a “bourgeois” and one who always hankered for posts, after he presided over the July 21-22 Lok Sabha trust motion which the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government won.

Asked when he would put forth his case in detail before the public, Chatterjee said, “Whatever I have to say I’ll say at a proper time.”

The media caught up with Chatterjee at a private hospital where he had gone to visit his ailing sister.

On Sunday, Chatterjee was quoted as saying that he was now a “sinner” in the eyes of the party.

“I am a sinner in the eyes of the CPI-M and not a gentleman. That’s why they thought I deserved the summary expulsion,” he told the Kolkata-based English daily The Telegraph.

“Let them say whatever they are saying. I would like to see how far they can go,” Chatterjee said about the allegations being levelled against him.