New Delhi, Jul 22 (PTI) Jagdeep Dhankhar’s decision to resign as Vice President on Monday night has triggered a firestorm of speculation on whether there was more to it than “to prioritise health care”, as his sudden move had capped a day of events in Rajya Sabha on his watch which took the government by surprise and put it in a damage-control mode.
The usual effusive praise that is showered on an occupant of a high office on his departure was missing from the ruling alliance’s side, an indication that the government was probably happy to see him go. It was the Opposition, which had signed a notice to impeach him last year for his alleged biases, that had nice words for him.
Dhankhar had informed the House on Monday that he had received a notice for a motion to remove Justice Yashwant Varma, who is embroiled in a suspected corruption case, from 63 opposition MPs. The Vice President is ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
That the notice went against the government’s plan to marshal a bipartisan motion for Justice Varma’s removal in the Lok Sabha and not in the Upper House was made more embarrassing for the ruling alliance by the fact that it was an entirely opposition-sponsored exercise.
Senior government ministers swung into action by getting many Rajya Sabha MPs of the BJP and its allies to put their signatures on a document which some members said was for a similar notice to ensure that opposition members alone were not behind the exercise in the Upper House.
Many other signatories kept mum, while a few stated that they were not aware of the details as they signed a paper that did not carry details of the matter, drawing the conjecture that it was related to Dhankhar. A couple of senior leaders, however, insisted that it was all aimed at ensuring that National Democratic Alliance MPs were also part of the notice for Varma’s removal.
Another development that suggested the government’s unhappiness with Dhankhar was the absence of the Leader of House in Rajya Sabha, J P Nadda, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju from the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee, which includes members of different parties and decides on the House agenda, at 4.30 PM on Monday.
The meeting, which was chaired by Dhankhar, was held as an earlier meeting, which Nadda and Rijiju had attended, could not arrive at a decision on the House’s final agenda.
Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh speculated in a post on X that something serious clearly occurred between 1 PM and 4.30 PM, which prompted Nadda and Rijiju to skip the BAC “deliberately”. This naturally did not go well with Dhankhar, he claimed.
Nadda told reporters that both of them were busy in official work and had informed the Rajya Sabha Chairman’s office about it.
A few BJP members were also critical of Dhankhar’s decision to allow the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, to launch a sharp attack on the government over Operation Sindoor during the Zero Hour when the ruling alliance had already expressed its willingness for a discussion on the issue.
At 9.25 PM on Monday, Dhankhar (74) announced his resignation “to prioritise health care and abide by medical advice”.
Barring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who put out a brief post, most of the leading government figures refrained from offering any comment.
Modi said on X, “Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji has got many opportunities to serve our country in various capacities, including as the Vice President of India. Wishing him good health.” Opposition MP Kapil Sibal, long a bitter critic of Dhankhar, lauded him as a nationalist and patriot.
He wanted the opposition and the government to work together to enhance India’s standing in the world, the senior lawyer said.
Many leaders are of the view that the ties between Dhankhar and the government might have got strained over a period of time, but there is little clarity on the reasons for these differences. PTI KR RT
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