Jagdeep Dhankhar, who quit suddenly as Vice President of India in July, made a comeback in rhetoric after the Lok Sabha admitted a notice on Tuesday calling for impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma over discovery of unaccounted-for cash at his home.
With exact date and time, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh pointed out in a social media post how Jagdeep Dhankhar, as Rajya Sabha chairman, had admitted a motion backed largely by the Opposition on the same subject.
Dhankhar had quit the same night.
Political observers have listed this as one of the likely reasons for Dhankhar's early exit even when two years remained in his tenure. The government did not appreciate his admission of the notice when the ruling alliance was already prepping a wider motion, reports have said.
Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, posted on X: “On July 21, 2025, at 16:07 hrs, the-then Chairman of the Rajya Sabha had made an announcement that lasted till 16:19 hrs.” Dhankhar resigned hours later citing ill-health.
Ramesh stressed that Dhankhar's announcement of the notice admission “has not been expunged (at least not yet)”.
{{/usCountry}}Ramesh stressed that Dhankhar's announcement of the notice admission “has not been expunged (at least not yet)”.
{{/usCountry}}He annexed the full text of the announcement in which Dhankhar asked the Rajya Sabha secretary general to take next steps.
The process for the removal of Justice Varma was set in motion on July 21 with parliamentarians submitting notices to the presiding officers of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The matter appeared to have come down to whose notice carried more weight.
The Rajya Sabha notice had signatures of 63 opposition members, while the one submitted to the Lok Sabha speaker was more of a bipartisan effort with about 150 members, including Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, supporting it.
Dhankhar, as chairman of the Upper House, took note of the Opposition-backed notice before the Lok Sabha speaker could.
On Tuesday, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla took up the bipartisan notice and constituted a three-member committee to probe charges against Justice Varma. This set in motion the process of impeachment of the Allahabad High Court judge.
The inquiry committee comprises Supreme Court judge Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and senior Karnataka HC advocate BV Acharya.
In his remarks in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Birla said, “The committee will submit its report as early as possible.”
Birla said he received a proposal from 146 Lok Sabha members, including Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rahul Gandhi, on July 21.
Justice Varma was repatriated from the Delhi HC to Allahabad after burnt wads of currency notes were found at his official residence in Delhi on March 14.