From correspondents in Delhi, India, 10:03 PM IST

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Gurudas Das Gupta took unexpected digs at each other in what many thought was a spillover of an old rivalry during the CPI member's somewhat dragging speech during the debate on the trust motion in parliament Monday.

Chatterjee kept on reminding Das Gupta, while he was speaking, that he was running out of time and he was a 'senior' member. To this, Das Gupta replied, 'I know I am a senior member.'

When Das Gupta asked for 'five minutes more', the speaker said, 'The time is given on the basis of the strength of the party.'

Das Gupta: 'I'll be obliged to you.'

Speaker: 'You are a very senior person.'

Das Gupta: 'I know I am very senior... and you are too junior.'

Speaker: 'I am concerned about what is happening in the house. If you were in my seat, you would behave in the same manner.'

Chatterjee is a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP from Bolpur in West Bengal, while Das Gupta is from Panskura.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)