Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 22: Amid queries from the Parliamentarians over intrigue surrounding the vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar’s sudden resignation, the government sources on Tuesday indicated that the Rajya Sabha chairman accepting an opposition-sponsored notice for the impeachment of the Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma, from whose Delhi residence bundles of unaccounted cash was recovered, may have set in motion the chain of events that eventually led to his departure.
According to the sources, by accepting the Opposition’s notice, Mr Dhankhar ran afoul of the Centre’s plan to target corruption in the judiciary. The sources have also indicated that Jagdeep Dhankhar’s resignation may have spared him a government-backed no-confidence motion leading to his unceremonious ouster from the office.
Sources say the government had planned to introduce an impeachment motion against Justice Varma in both Houses — a move they had expected to be a focal point of the Rajya Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) agenda. However, they were reportedly stunned when Dhankhar unexpectedly brought up and acknowledged the Opposition’s resolution during the BAC meeting, stating he would take it up the next day at 1 pm. Government insiders say this caught everyone off guard, as the BAC agenda had not been circulated or finalised with regard to impeachment proceedings.
When Rajya Sabha met for the Monsoon Session on Monday, Opposition MPs moved the notice. Mr Dhankhar, Chairman of the Upper House, accepted the notice and asked the House’s secretary general to take necessary steps. This move, sources have said, did not sit well with the government, which intended to lead the offensive against the judge and corruption in the judiciary. Rumblings began of a move to bring a no-confidence motion against Mr Dhankhar — just six months after the Opposition brought such a motion against the Vice President. Mr Dhankhar, a veteran politician, got wind of this and opted to step down.
At 9.25 pm yesterday, the official X handle of the Vice President shared a resignation letter addressed to President Droupadi Murmu. “To prioritise health care and abide by medical advice, I hereby resign as the Vice President of India, effective immediately, in accordance with Article 67(a) of the Constitution. I extend my deepest gratitude to Your Excellency, the Honourable President of India for her unwavering support and the soothing, wonderful working relationship we maintained during my tenure,” Mr Dhankhar wrote in the letter.
“I express my deep gratitude to the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the esteemed Council of Ministers. Prime Minister’s cooperation and support have been invaluable, and I have learned much during my time in office. The warmth, trust, and affection I have received from all the Hon’ble Members of Parliament would ever be cherished at and embedded in my memory. I am deeply thankful for the invaluable experiences and insights I have gained as Vice President in our great democracy,” he wrote.
The resignation, which was accepted by the president within hours, sent shockwaves through the corridors of power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a customary message on Tuesday wished Mr Dhankhar good health and said he served the country in various capacities. But Senior Congress leaders described the development as “inexplicable” and a “riddle wrapped in mystery rolled in an enigma.”
In the aftermath of Mr Dhankhar accepting the opposition-sponsored motion for impeachment of Justice Varma, he reportedly received multiple calls from senior ministers condemning his actions as unacceptable. Sources say senior minister described Dhankhar as having been under scrutiny for some time and cautioned that his conduct was inappropriate given his institutional position. In response, Dhankhar is said to have engaged in a heated argument, asserting that he sensed intense displeasure from the government, and eventually felt compelled to resign “as soon as possible.”
The Opposition leaders flagged the absence of Union Ministers JP Nadda and Kiren Rijiju at a 4.30 pm meeting of the business advisory committee and said this upset the Vice President. The Opposition also flagged Mr Nadda’s remarks in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. “Only what I say will go on record,” Mr Nadda, the Leader of the House, said during Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s address. The remark, some said, disrespected the Chair, which alone has the authority to conduct House proceedings, and Mr Dhankhar was upset by this.
Mr Nadda on Tuesday trashed the theories of the absence of the two ministers at the Business advisory committee meeting or a move for no-confidence motion against Mr Dhankhar. “Kiren Rijiju and I could not attend the 4.30 pm meeting called by the Honourable Vice President because we were occupied with another important parliamentary engagement. Prior intimation regarding this was duly conveyed to the Vice President’s office,” he said. “Also, when I said in the Rajya Sabha that ‘only what I say will go on record’, it was directed at the interrupting opposition MPs — not at the Chair,” he said.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said: “Only he (Mr Dhankhar) knows the reason. We have nothing to say on this. Either the government knows or he knows. It is up to the government to accept his resignation or not.” The 74-year-old Vice President had, just 10 days ago, said he would retire at the right time, August 2027, “subject to divine intervention.” During the day on Monday when he was presiding over the Rajya Sabha session, there was no indication that it was his last day in the office, nor was there any manifestation of health issues, which he and the government claimed, led to his resignation.
Mr Dhankhar arrived at the President’s residence on short notice that evening to formally tender his resignation. He did not attend the Rajya Sabha proceedings on Tuesday with sources indicating that he may not deliver a farewell speech, further adding to speculation. His resignation was accepted by the president around noon on Tuesday.
The swift developments on Monday evening also indicated something was amiss. The Opposition has begun asking questions as to what really went wrong. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to X to share the chronology of events before Dhankhar’s resignation, claiming that “something very serious happened yesterday between 1 PM and 4:30 PM to account for the deliberate absence of Shri Nadda and Shri Rijiju from the second BAC yesterday.”
“At 4:30 PM, the BAC reassembled under the chairmanship of Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar. It waited for Shri Nadda and Shri Rijiju to arrive. They never came. Shri Jagdeep Dhankar 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,” he said on X.
“Now in a truly unprecedented move, Shri Jagdeep Dhankar has resigned. He has given health reasons for doing so. Those should be respected. But it is also a fact that there are far deeper reasons for his resignation. While always lauding post-2014 India, he spoke fearlessly for the welfare of farmers, forcefully against what he called ‘ahankar’ in public life, and strongly on judicial accountability and restraint. To the extent possible under the current G2 ruling regime, he tried to accommodate the Opposition. He was a stickler for norms, proprieties, and protocol, which he believed were being consistently disregarded in both his capacities,” he added.
July 21, 12.30 pm: The Vice President attends the meeting of the business advisory committee, panel decides to meet at 4.30 pm again.
2 pm: Vice President Dhankhar accepts the Opposition-backed motion, the government is not pleased
4.07 pm: Vice President informs the House that the Opposition-backed motion has been accepted.
4.30 pm: The business advisory committee meets, no representative from the government is present, the meeting is deferred.
5 pm: Congress leaders meet the Vice President, another meeting with Opposition MPs follows
9.25 pm: Mr Dhankhar announces his resignation through Vice President’s handle on X
12 pm, July 22: President Murmu accepts the resignation
Two BAC meetings were held on Monday. The first BAC meeting was held at 12.30 pm which was attended by Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and JP Nadda. However, when the committee reconvened at 4.30pm, the ministers were absent and Union minister L Murugan represented the government instead.
Mr Dhankhar’s abrupt resignation has opened the contest for his successor.
With the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) enjoying a majority in the electorate, which includes the members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the NDA nominee should have an easy passage to victory. It is likely to consider the probable names in the coming days.
One of the governors, as Dhankhar was of West Bengal before taking the vice president’s office, or a seasoned organisational leader or one of the Union ministers — the BJP has a large pool of leaders to choose from for the position. Dhankhar’s predecessor was M Venkaiah Naidu, a former BJP president who was in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was tapped by the party for the key constitutional position in 2017.
“We are still processing it. But I believe the party will choose someone who is a solid choice and is non-controversial,” a BJP leader said, suggesting that a veteran party hand might be the preferred option. Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, a Janata Dal (United) MP, is also being seen as a probable as he has been serving in the position since 2020 and enjoys the government’s trust.
Mr Dhankhar’s three-year tenure was marked by his frequent run-ins with opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha but his voluble commentary, often on contentious issues, left the government less than amused at times. But choosing his successor is not a time-bound task. Article 63 of the Constitution of India, which deals with the office of the Vice-President, the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha, says the vacancy should be filled “as soon as possible.”
The Election Commission has to determine the date. The words “as soon as possible” also appear in Article 93, which deals with Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha. It says the House shall elect two of its members “as soon as possible” to these two posts. No election has taken place for Deputy Speaker after M. Thambidurai demitted office in June 2019 on the expiry of the term of 16th Lok Sabha. The 17th Lok Sabha (June 2019 -24) had no Deputy Speaker and the current House is yet to elect one.
There is no proviso for an ‘Acting Vice President’. However, since Parliament is in session, the duties of the presiding office of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) will fall upon Harivansh Narain Singh, who has been the Deputy Chairman since August 2018. A distinguished editor before being elected to Rajya Sabha on Janata Dal (United) ticket from Bihar, he will hold charge, just as his predecessor Violet Alva had done when Giri quit in 1969.
Harivansh is the 13th Deputy Chairman in the history of Rajya Sabha. All his predecessors retired as Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, with the sole exception of Pratibha Patil, a former Speaker of Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha, who went on to become Rajasthan’s Governor and in 2007 was elected the President of India.
The NDA’s coalition politics in the run-up to Bihar elections also create a possibility of Harivansh’s elevation. However, seeing recent appointments, which have given primacy not only to BJP insiders but also emphasised on their RSS credentials, this seems an unlikely option.
Dhankhar began his political career as a Janata Dal leader and was made a deputy minister by Prime Minister Chandrashekhar. He joined the BJP a few years back and was soon appointed the Governor of West Bengal. His tenure in Kolkata was marked by his run-ins with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Dhankhar was the second new entrant to the BJP after Satyapal Malik to have gained prominence in the Narendra Modi-era, chagrining the Sangh’s old guard. The fallout of his resignation may cause a lively organisational debate in the BJP.