Jagdeep Dhankhar's shock exit evokes 'Congress's compassion', but here's why TMC is silent

Jagdeep Dhankhar

Political leaders and by extension political parties leave no stone unturned to maximise events that may yield political capital in immediate future. The sudden resignation of former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has become a rallying point for the opposition to question the circumstances under which he 'had to resign'. The former Vice President, previously criticised by the opposition as a “government puppet", is now the central point of their efforts to “defend him".

The opposition is using Dhankhar’s sudden exit to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government. News 18, quoting sources suggest that many secrets are emerging. Notably, the Trinamool Congress skipped the INDIA bloc meeting on Tuesday, despite its MPs being in the national capital.

The Vice-President’s Office on July 15 posted a 44-second video of Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, paying Jagdeep Dhankhar a visit at the V-P Enclave.

Last Sunday, just a day before the Monsoon Session of Parliament began, Dhankhar met Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal at his residence and posted pictures of this meeting. Kejriwal is not an MP.

News 18 quoting sources has attributed TMC’s absence to its long-standing animosity with Dhankhar. The party only engaged with him when he became vice president out of constitutional duty, but no TMC MP has had a close meeting with him in the past year and a half.

While such meetings are part of official courtesy, they do not seem to have gone unnoticed in those quarters of government which have also heard murmurs of Dhankhar being critical of the Narendra Modi government in such meetings with Opposition leaders.

This is a U-turn from 2024 when the Opposition leaders had brought an impeachment motion against him and threatened to remove him as the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for allegedly being partisan to them. Dhankhar was hospitalised in AIIMS in March for cardiac issues.

The TMC was keen on an impeachment motion against Dhankhar, but it failed due to duplicated signatures from two Congress MPs, which Trinamool sources claim was a deliberate act to protect Dhankhar. The Congress allegedly wanted two impeachment proceedings: one against Justice Varma and another against Justice Yadav. Dhankhar reportedly assured the party that he would look into it, though he was noncommittal, reported News 18.

The Congress, RJD, SP, and TMC were largely united in their stance, but sources say Trinamool has not forgiven the Congress for what it views as a failed impeachment attempt against Dhankhar. It believes the Congress was aligning with the vice president, whom it had always criticised as a “government stooge".