What minister Rijiju told Jagdeep Dhankhar on Justice Yashwant Varma impeachment move before he quit as Vice President
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What minister Rijiju told Jagdeep Dhankhar on Justice Yashwant Varma impeachment move before he quit as Vice President
Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from the post of Vice President of India on July 21. It was after the government found out that he had acknowledged an Opposition-sponsored notice for the impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma. Union health minister and leader of the Rajya Sabha JP Nadda and union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju reached out to him hours before his resignation. Rijiu told Dhankar that in the Lok Sabha, there is a process of building a consensus on the impeachment, and indicated that the PM is not happy about the sudden development.
Told him ‘PM not happy’
“Rijiu told Dhankhar that in the Lok Sabha, there is a process of building a consensus on the impeachment, and pointed out that the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, had signed the notice. He even indicated that the PM is not happy about the sudden development,” people aware of the matter told the Hindustan Times.
Dhankhar, however, indicated to them that he was acting well within the rules of the House, according to the sources.
HT reported on Tuesday that Dhankhar’s move to kickstart Justice Varma’s impeachment process in the Rajya Sabha surprised the government, which wanted the process to go through the Lok Sabha.
This was probably the trigger that prompted the abrupt resignation.
Dhankhar, who was also chairperson of Rajya Sabha on account of being the V-P, sent his resignation letter to President Droupadi Murmu on Monday evening after presiding over the House on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament.
Justice Varma is at the centre of much controversy after currency notes in large quantities were reportedly found at his residence after a fire.
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‘Dhankhar stole the show, government felt’
“The government wanted to pass the impeachment motion first in the Lok Sabha. It would have been touted as a success of the government and sent a clear message to the judiciary. But Dhankhar stole the show,” a Lok Sabha official had told HT earlier.
Last week, Dhankar candidly told a senior Opposition floor leader of the Rajya Sabha about the “pressure” of his work and how he had “gone out of his way” to accommodate the ruling establishment’s demands.
In his resignation letter, Dhankar said that he was resigning from his post “to prioritise health care and abide by medical advice”. The union home ministry formalised the decision through a gazette notification the next day, and the poll process for a successor is now on.