‘Speaks highly of him, poorly of those who elected him’: Congress on VP Jagdeep Dhankhar’s resignation

Congress said that there are far deeper reasons for the resignation of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar than what’s being let on. Dhankhar resigned mid-term citing medical and health reasons on Monday, the first day of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said something “very serious happened” behind the scenes. He said that the vice president chaired the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Rajya Sabha at 12:30 pm, and was attended by Leader of the House JP Nadda and the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju. The committee was scheduled to meet again at 4:30 pm.

But when the committee reassembled at 4:30 pm, Nadda and Rijiju were absent. Dhankhar was miffed at their absence and rescheduled the meeting to 1 pm on Tuesday.

“So 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. Now in a truly unprecedented move, Shri Jagdeep Dhankar has resigned,” insinuating a correlation between the two incidents.

“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,” said Ramesh.

“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. Shri 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,” said Ramesh.

"This was completely unexpected. The Vice President, who was present in the Rajya Sabha throughout the day, has now resigned. I don’t believe health reasons are behind this decision. Instead, it appears to be politically motivated,” said Ramesh’s party colleague, Danish Ali.

“This development leaves a big question mark that demands answers. There has been no statement from the Prime Minister or the Home Minister, and no official information from the government regarding the resignation of the second-highest constitutional authority in the country," said NCP (SP) leader Anish Gawande.

The opposition raised further questions over Dhankhar's sudden resignation as the vice president. The Congress also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convince Dhankhar to reconsider his decision.