Congress jabs BJP over Dhankhar exit: He confirmed independence, that was a mistake

As hypothesis continues to rage over Jagdeep Dhankhar’s shock exit and the federal government staying tight-lipped on the matter, senior Congress chief Abhishek Manu Singhvi added gasoline to the hearth by claiming that the ex-Vice President’s present of defiance over the movement to question Justice Yashwant Varma proved to be his undoing.

“It seems that Mr Dhankhar’s exhibiting of some minimal independence, probably belatedly, was his actual mistake. No different mistake,” Singhvi mentioned at a press convention on Saturday.

India Right this moment had beforehand reported that Dhankhar’s rift with the federal government had been brewing for a while. In accordance with sources, the row over accepting an opposition-backed movement to question Justice Varma, from whose home a big stash of money was recovered in March, proved to be the final straw.

Sources mentioned Dhankhar had met with a senior Congress chief and was making ready to formally settle for signatures from Opposition MPs to provoke the movement within the Rajya Sabha. Union ministers, together with JP Nadda and Kiren Rijiju, repeatedly reached out to Dhankhar to include signatures from ruling social gathering MPs to border the movement as consensual.

However he reportedly refused to budge, standing agency on his intention to learn out the opposition-only signatures within the Rajya Sabha. This apparently angered the BJP and led to Dhankhar’s abrupt resignation.

Alluding to what could have transpired behind the scenes, Singhvi accused the federal government of panicking and “eradicating the Rajya Sabha Chairperson” to regain management over the impeachment course of.

“This can be a management freak authorities,” he mentioned. “If the movement is introduced in each the Homes on the identical day, the statutory committee is to be fashioned collectively by the Chair of each homes. That is the regulation which stops any competitors between each Homes.”

Calling it “constitutional sabotage,” the Congress MP mentioned the complete chain of occasions uncovered the BJP’s insecurity and manipulation of parliamentary process.

“Our movement in Lok Sabha first, not in your Rajya Sabha. Out you go VP Dhankhar,” he quipped.

Singhvi used Dhankhar’s exit as a springboard to dive into what he known as the BJP’s double requirements on judicial issues. He accused the saffron social gathering of sustaining authorized positions which can be purely performative, and cited the contrasting dealing with of Justice Varma and Justice Shekhar Yadav.

“The BJP’s recreation of motions is much less about regulation and extra about optics,” he mentioned. “On judicial propriety, on anticorruption motion and on judicial accountability, the BJP’s mantra is discuss the discuss, by no means stroll the stroll.”

The Congress chief and senior advocate questioned the federal government’s silence over Justice Yadav, whose controversial remarks at a VHP occasion have been broadly criticised for selling hate speech and majoritarian rhetoric.

“You might be so specific about Lok Sabha versus Rajya Sabha, however you preserve this remarkably eloquent silence on Justice Yadav, an individual whose feedback as a sitting decide learn extra like manifestos of a political social gathering than any authorized reasoning,” Singhvi jibed.

– Ends