Jagdeep Dhankhar resignation: Sudden or planned? Timing of VP's exit fuels multiple theories

Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned as Vice President on Monday. (File Photo: PTI)

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar's decision to resign mid-term citing health reasons has left Delhi's political circles in a flutter. The late-evening decision on Monday, after the proceedings of the first day of the Monsoon Session of parliament concluded, has led to frenzied speculations around the sudden move.

Dhankhar's tenure as Vice President was scheduled to end on August 10, 2027.

Opposition leaders, while guarded in their response, have said there was more to Dhankhar's exit than meets the eye. "The sudden resignation of the Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is as shocking as it is inexplicable. I was with him alongside a number of other MPs till around 5 PM today and had spoken to him over the phone at 7:30 PM. No doubt Mr. Dhankhar has to give topmost priority to his health. But clearly there is far more to his totally unexpected resignation than meets the eye. This is not the time for speculation though," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

While the Centre or the Bharatiya Janata Party is yet to offer any statement on the issue, there are two sets of developments that could offer some pointers.

- On Monday, the Vice President’s Office put out a statement announcing a one-day official visit to Jaipur on July 23.

- Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh said he was with the V-P till about 5 PM and on the phone till 7.30 PM and had no clue about the decision.

- Addressing an event at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi earlier this year, Dhankhar had said: "I will retire at the right time, August 2027, subject to divine intervention."

These developments clearly suggest that quitting midway into his term was nowhere on Dhankhar's mind -- until yesterday.

There are a number of theories that have begun to float around since Dhankhar's resignation, seeking to suggest that the V-P and the Centre were not seeing eye to eye.

- A report in CNN-News18 suggests that the Centre was caught off guard after Dhankhar announced receiving a letter signed by more than 50 MPs calling for the impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma. The letter was signed by Opposition MPs and Dhankhar admitted it and also instructed the Secretary-General to proceed with the matter.

- A report by India Today claims that Dhankhar was peeved over the absence of Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, JP Nadda, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju at the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting held on Monday evening, just hours before Dhankar's surprise resignation. In the absence of the key ministers, Union Minister L Murugan represented the government at the meeting which was held at 4.30 pm.

- "So something very serious happened yesterday between 1 PM and 4.30 PM to account for the deliberate absence of Shri Nadda and Shri Rijiju," Jairam Ramesh said in his post on X.

So, did the happenings on the first day of the Monsoon Session trigger Dhankhar's exit? Or was there more than meets the eye?

Information shared by some BJP sources suggests that the resignation could have been in the making for sometime. As per sources cited by News18, there had been murmurs in the corridors about Dhankhar’s growing proximity with several leaders of the Opposition -- his recent meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at the VP Enclave last week and hosting Arvind Kejriwal for a meeting on Sunday being some cases in point.

Additionally, Dhankhar and the Centre were not on the same page as far as his campaign for the return of an NJAC-like body to curb corruption in the judiciary was concerned.

However, the overwhelming view within the BJP, at the moment, appears to be that Dhankhar's announcement of the motion against Justice Varma "without consulting the Treasury benches" could have done him in.

As he was presiding over the House as Chairman at the time, his word was binding on the government, and the government apparently did not appreciate Dhankhar announcing it “without consulting the Treasury Benches”. “While the government was trying to build a consensus to move the motion (in the Lok Sabha), the Rajya Sabha Chairman accepted a notice which only had signatures of the Opposition MPs and made a statement. It was a big embarrassment for the government,” a BJP leader told The Indian Express.

Officially, leaders of the BJP and the Centre remain tight-lipped over the matter. Dhankhar's resignation, tendered with immediate effect, has been accepted and he is unlikely to attend the Rajya Sabha session on Tuesday.