10 Minutes To 5 pm: How Centre Beat The Deadline On Jagdeep Dhankhar
It was almost 5 pm. After that, the day's affairs would have been postponed to the next day in parliament. But the government was firm about sealing the fate of Jagdeep Dhankhar without delay. Just 10 minutes before 5 pm, on July 21, a sealed envelope was handed over to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. That was the end of Mr Dhankhar's journey as Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman.
Later that night, Mr Dhankhar resigned as Vice President. He said that his sudden exit was to prioritise his health, but NDTV later revealed a string of events that led to the abrupt exit of a leader who had proved his loyalty to the ruling party on multiple occasions.
The trigger was an Opposition-sponsored move to remove a high court judge who had been at the centre of a massive cash recovery controversy, it was earlier reported. Sources told NDTV that Mr Dhankhar had accepted the Opposition's notice to impeach Justice Yashwant Varma, bypassing the Centre's plans to target corruption in the judiciary.
The Vice President, functioning as the Rajya Sabha Chairman, mentioned the opposition's notice to impeach Justice Varma in the Rajya Sabha despite a senior minister making it clear to him that the government was not in favour of the move. Sources later said the Opposition-backed impeachment motion was not admitted in the House.
The fallout apparently left Mr Dhankhar with no choice but to resign immediately, without any window for postponement.
What Happened Between Morning And Evening
On July 21 morning, Mr Dhankhar attended the Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha. During this, he told the ministers to ask the government when the Prime Minister would speak in the House on Operation Sindoor.
This question appeared to have annoyed the ministers, who asserted neither the chair nor the opposition can decide when the PM will speak in the House.
After the BAC meeting, Mr Dhankhar went home for lunch. This is when he got a call from a senior minister, twice. But the Vice President declined to speak to him. This was the tipping point. The centre realised that the Dhankhar chapter was over, said sources.
At 4 pm, he went back to the Rajya Sabha and mentioned the opposition's proposal against Justice Verma. By then, the government had already strategised against the Vice President - a campaign was ready to oust him.
At 4:30 pm, a second session of the BAC was scheduled, but no government representative turned up.
Meanwhile, all Rajya Sabha MPs of the NDA had gathered in Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's office, where their signatures were collected on a proposal for Mr Dhankhar's removal. Sources suggest the NDA had the support of 134 MPs on this matter.
The government was keen on ending the matter on that day itself and not postponing it to the next day, sources said. The NDA proposal was handed over to Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal in a sealed envelope. He carried it to the Chairman's chamber and submitted the envelope to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat at 4:50 pm.
While it is confirmed that the proposal was related to Mr Dhankhar's removal, official sources are tight-lipped on the content of the letter. Senior ministers had briefed the NDA MPs in groups of 10 on the matter, and even given them freedom to withdraw their signatures if they wanted.
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