Terming Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee as a “man of extraordinary talent and integrity”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said he had risen above his party and his ideology to do what he believed was right.

Releasing Chatterjee’s book “Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a Parliamentarian” here,the prime minister said Chatterjee’s book was a very important contribution to political history as witnessed from one side of the political spectrum.

The prime minister said that one of the issues that faces the Indian polity was how to make the functioning of parliament more effective and meaningful. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar were also present at the function.

“I wish to commend the book to readers to understand a man of extraordinary talent and integrity, who believes in keeping the faith in the fundamental values that have made our republic great, who is deeply committed to preserving the institutions of our republic and who has risen above his party and his ideology to do what he believes is right. May his tribe increase,” Manmohan Singh said.

Noting he had differing views with Chatterjee on various issues, he said that these differences in political ideology never came in the way of the close and fruitful personal association.

“The fact that the heat of debate in parliament is often matched by the warmth of personal relationships among leaders cutting across party lines is a real strength of Indian democracy,” he said.