NEW DELHI: A day after the opposition moved a notice to remove vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar, who serves as Rajya Sabha chairman, Congress president and leader of opposition in RS Mallikarjun Kharge said the VP’s “commitment is not to the Constitution…but to the ruling party”.
At a presser Wednesday by INDIA bloc of opposition parties, which was attended by the allies, Kharge said, “Over the past three years his conduct is contrary to the dignity of the high office he holds. Sometimes he starts praising the govt and sometimes he starts calling himself Eklavya of RSS.”
In RS, Dhankhar told opposition MPs he was aware of the notice against him. BJP and its allies rallied behind him and sought an apology from Kharge for “insulting” a “son of the soil”.
Oppn steps up attack on Dhankhar, says he’s the biggest disruptor of RS
NEW DELHI: Alleging that “the biggest disruptor of Rajya Sabha was its own chairman”, INDIA bloc on Wednesday stepped up its attack on Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and said his “biased and partisan conduct” had forced the opposition alliance to bring a resolution seeking his removal.
Members of the anti-BJP bloc led by the LoP in Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that Chairman Dhankhar was “strangulating the opposition’s voice” and was acting as the “govt’s spokesperson and shield” with an eye on his “next promotion”.
“This is not just a breach of protocol, but a betrayal of the Constitution and the people of India,” Kharge told reporters at a press conference, while clarifying that the notice for Dhankhar’s removal was not about personal grievances or political battles. Opposition parties on Tuesday submitted the notice to the Rajya Sabha secretary general.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and CPI (M) members were among those who attended the press conference. No member of AAP, a key constituent of the alliance, was present, but Congress’s Jairam Ramesh said AAP was very much part of this coming together, and five AAP leaders were signatories to the notice. AAP members had to skip the press conference as they had an appointment with Election Commission.
“We are saddened that 75 years after the adoption of the Constitution, the biased and partisan conduct of the Chairman has forced the opposition to bring this resolution against him,” Kharge said. He claimed that those who held the post previously were unbiased and stayed away from indulging in politics.
He said, “Over the past three years his conduct is contrary to the dignity of the high office he holds. Sometimes he starts praising the govt and sometimes he starts calling himself the Eklavya of RSS.”
“His commitment is not to the Constitution and constitutional traditions, but to the governing party. He is working like the government’s spokesperson,” Kharge said. He went on to call Dhankhar as the “biggest reason” for disruptions in the House.
“Normally the opposition seeks protection from the Chair as they see the person on the post as their protector. But if the chairman himself starts singing praises of the PM and governing party in that situation, who will listen to the opposition?” Kharge asked.
He alleged that Dhankhar resorts to schooling senior leaders and speaking down to them like a headmaster. The chairman never “missed an opportunity to insult opposition leaders,” Kharge said.
Recalling incidents of Monday in the House to target Dhankhar, he said it was “particularly troubling as it was marked by blatant partisanship and a total lack of fairness”. “The Chairman openly encourages and provokes the treasury benches to make outrageous remarks against the opposition,” Kharge said.
On BJP claiming that the opposition parties don’t have the numbers to get the resolution passed, Kharge said, “let them first allow and admit the notice, then we will also muster the numbers”.
DMK’s Tiruchi Siva, RJD’s Manoj Jha, TMC’s Nadimul Haque, SP’s Javed Ali Khan and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut also hit out Dhankhar and supported the notice against him, saying it was about “about restoring of core principles of democracy”.