Congress praises Dhankar, BJP reminds it of impeachment; Nadda, Rijiju skipped Dhankar meeting, claims Congress, Nadda says VP office was informed
agdeep Dhankhar who Sunday night resigned from the post of Vice President of India and the Rajya Sabha Chairman surprisingly found an unlikely supporter in Congress—the party which last December led an impeachment move against him describing him as a “spokesman” of the BJP-led government
Interestingly, soon after Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh and Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi questioned Dhankhar’s resignation and the “unexplained absence” of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Rajya Sabha leader of the House J P Nadda at the House Business Advisory Committee meeting chaired by Dhankhar on Monday, they were reminded of the impeachment move against him.
BJP’s Nishikant Dubey recalled how the opposition, led by Congress, had given a notice to impeach Dhankhar on December 10, 2024. “The opposition is playing the role Kader Khan played in films…at least respect someone’s health condition,” he said
In December, a fractured Opposition united to submit a notice to move a no-confidence motion against Dhankhar, accusing him of bias in conducting House proceedings. It was the first such notice against a Rajya Sabha Chairman.
On Tuesday, suspecting “far deeper reasons” for Dhankhar’s resignation “than meet the eye”, the Congress leader said Dhankhar chaired the BAC meeting of the Rajya Sabha at 12.30 pm on Monday which was attended by most members, including Nadda Rijiju. After some discussion, the BAC decided to meet again at 4:30 PM.
“At 4:30 pm, the BAC reassembled under the chairmanship of Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar. It waited for Mr Nadda and Mr Rijiju to arrive. They never came. Jagdeep Dhankhar was not personally informed that the two senior Ministers were not attending. Rightly he took umbrage and rescheduled the BAC for today at 1 PM,” Ramesh claimed on X to suggest that “something very serious” happened yesterday between 1 PM and 4:30 PM to account for their deliberate absence from the second BAC yesterday, he said.
“…. there are far deeper reasons for his resignation,” Ramesh claimed.
While always lauding post-2014 India, he spoke fearlessly for the welfare of farmers, forcefully against what he called ‘ahankar (arrogance)’ in public life, and strongly on judicial accountability and restraint, Ramesh said. “Jagdeep Dhankar’s resignation speaks highly of him. It also speaks poorly of those who had got him elected as Vice President in the first instance,” he added.
Ramesh had defended the move to impeach Dhankhar saying that he had “reduced the prestige of the position he occupies to that of a spokesman for the government of the day”.
Nadda says VP office was informed
Nadda said the Vice President’s office was informed that he and Rijiju would not attend a BAC meeting convened by Dhankhar last evening, shortly before he resigned from the post.
Responding on queries regarding Ramesh’s observations regarding the thier absence at the BAC, Nadda told media persons that “the Vice President’s office was intimated about our inability to attend the meeting”.
He was speaking to reporters after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with senior ministers, including Nadda, Rijiju, Home Minister Amit Shah, EAM S Jaishankar, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Law Minister Arjun Ram.
