Dhankhar's resignation accepted as row erupts

Did former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar's move to kickstart the impeachment process of justice Yashwant Varma in the Rajya Sabha take the government, which wanted the process to go through the Lok Sabha, by surprise?

- Saubhadra Chatterji

Was this the trigger that prompted the now former Vice President's sudden resignation on Monday night?

On Tuesday, theories surrounding Dhankhar's exit swirled around Delhi's political circles, gathering momentum from the government's delayed response to his resignation—the Prime Minister's terse message came at 12.13pm, 15 hours and 18 minutes after the resignation was posted at 9.25pm by the Vice President's X handle—as well as the promptness with which Rashtrapati Bhavan accepted the resignation, which was duly noted in the Gazette at 1.llam.

The die was cast last week when Dhankhar, according to people familiar with the matter, asked some Opposition leaders to give a notice for the impeachment of justice Varma in the Rajya Sabha, even as the government wanted to bring the notice only in the Lok Sabha.

The former Delhi high court judge faces removal after an undisclosed amount of money was found at his residence in March.

Accordingly, a senior Congress lawmaker who is also a lawyer, hurriedly prepared an impeachment notice on Sunday; all 63 MPs who signed it on Monday were from the Opposition parties. Not a single National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MP signed the Opposition-sponsored notice in the Rajya Sabha.

The reason: The NDA had no idea that such a notice was being prepared.