Jagdeep Dhankhar Resigns from Vice-Presidential Post. His resignation is believed to be due to the impeachment notice against Justice Verma, which was approved without the government's consent.
Jagdeep Dhankhar News: India's Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from his post on Monday, the first day of the Monsoon Session. He cited health reasons in his letter to the President. The President accepted his resignation the very next day. The Prime Minister wished him well on social media. However, there is speculation in political circles that the real reason for the resignation is something else.
Impeachment Notice Against Justice Yashwant Verma as the Reason
The main reason for Dhankhar's resignation is believed to be the acceptance of the impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Verma in the Rajya Sabha. As the Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, he accepted the impeachment notice brought by 63 opposition MPs. This decision was taken without informing the government's floor leaders, which made the ruling party uncomfortable.
Dhankhar decided to initiate the impeachment process from the Rajya Sabha, while the government wanted the process to begin in the Lok Sabha first. Under the opposition's strategy, starting from the Rajya Sabha could give them more political advantage.
Government Had a Different Strategy
The government was already planning to bring an impeachment motion against Justice Verma. The strategy was to introduce the motion in the Lok Sabha first and then send it to the Rajya Sabha. In the Lok Sabha, this motion had the support of a total of 145 MPs from both the opposition and the ruling party. These included leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Anurag Thakur.
However, at 3:30 PM in the Rajya Sabha, Dhankhar announced that he had received the impeachment motion from 63 opposition MPs and that the process was being initiated. No MP from the BJP or NDA was included in this motion. This raised questions as to whether the government should have been informed about this by Dhankhar's office, since the Leader of the House is from the BJP.
Dhankhar Was Vocal on the Issue of Justice Verma
Dhankhar had been quite vocal on this issue. He had also directed the Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha to initiate the impeachment process and form a joint committee of both houses. This meant he wanted the matter to proceed from there. But in the meantime, another controversy began to deepen.
A motion for impeachment against Justice Shekhar Yadav from the opposition was already pending. If Verma's case was taken forward in the Rajya Sabha, Shekhar Yadav's issue could also gain momentum. This situation could have been politically uncomfortable for the ruling party.
News of the Ruling Party's Displeasure
According to sources, the ruling party had conveyed its displeasure to Dhankhar regarding this situation. It was reported that BJP President JP Nadda and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju had begun to distance themselves from him. Indications of this were seen when these two leaders were absent from the meeting of the Consultative Committee.
During the same time, several BJP MPs signed a document in Defense Minister Rajnath Singh's room. It is believed that this was also related to the notice against Justice Verma, but Dhankhar may have seen it in a different context. These events made the atmosphere even more uncomfortable. Dhankhar had indicated his resignation to the government by late evening. His decision is being attributed to his headb nature and the prevailing political circumstances.
