BJP orchestrated VP Jagdeep Dhankhar's exit over Justice Varma: Cong

Congress also hit out at the BJP-led NDA government for its “remarkably eloquent silence” on the Justice Varma case.

The Congress on Saturday accused the BJP-led government of orchestrating former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s resignation to maintain control over the Justice Yashwant Varma impeachment process, alleging his only “mistake” was showing independence in constitutional matters.

Jagdeep Dhankhar quit as Vice President of India abruptly on July 21, with two years remaining in his term. (X/@VPIndia/File)

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi questioned the government’s decision to restart the impeachment motion in the Lok Sabha despite Dhankhar having already initiated the process in the Rajya Sabha, calling it “institutional sabotage and constitutional transgression.”

“His real mistake was the showing of some minimal independence in office,” Singhvi said at a press conference, describing Dhankhar’s resignation as the “wrapping up” of a political exit disguised “as a constitutional lie.”

The party also hit out at the BJP-led NDA government for its “remarkably eloquent silence” on the Justice Varma case, with Singhvi criticising the silence of both Dhankhar and Union minister Kiren Rijiju over recent days as “the most eloquent and telling in itself.”

The controversy centres on competing impeachment notices against Justice Varma, who faces corruption charges after charred currency bundles were allegedly found at his official residence following a fire on March 14. A Supreme Court inquiry panel concluded in a 64-page report that Varma had “covert or active control” over the cash, though no direct link was established.

Singhvi challenged Rijiju’s statement that no motion was admitted in the Rajya Sabha, asking: “What else is required for the admission of the motion? Does the statute prescribe that like the Supreme Court or high court judge you must write a long judgment admitting the motion?”

He recounted how Dhankhar, on July 21, had confirmed with law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal that numbers were satisfied to move a similar motion in the Lok Sabha. The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, permits joint inquiries when impeachment motions are moved in both Houses and meet the required threshold.

Once admitted, the presiding officer must form a three-member committee comprising the chief justice of India or a Supreme Court judge, a high court Chief Justice, and a distinguished jurist.

HT previously reported that Dhankhar’s move to initiate the process in the Upper House caught the government off guard, as it preferred the motion to originate in the Lok Sabha, prompting his sudden resignation. On July 22, Speaker Om Birla received a notice signed by 152 MPs, whilst Dhankhar announced that 63 Opposition MPs had submitted a similar notice in the Rajya Sabha.

“This government is trying the intersection of invincibility notions with the notion of ego, to say, ‘We announce first in the Lok Sabha’,” Singhvi said, alleging the BJP was undermining constitutional cooperation between Houses in its “pettiness” and “control-freak” approach.

The Congress leader warned that procedural divisions between the Houses could provide Justice Varma with grounds to challenge the impeachment process, asking: “Why is there a unilateralism and division among two Houses to possibly give him a new ground of alleging procedural and substantive infirmities?”

The BJP has not responded to the Congress allegations.