Tejashwi Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, on Tuesday termed Jagdeep Dhankhar's late-evening resignation as Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman on health grounds "surprising", considering that he had conducted the proceedings of the House so well barely a few hours earlier.
Claiming that a similar scenario was playing out in Bihar, Tejashwi wondered the BJP's compulsion to continue with Nitish Kumar as its chief ministerial face.
"CM Nitish Kumar is in an unconscious state. There are also reports about his health. If Jagdeep Dhankhar can resign, the question arises: What is the compulsion that BJP is making Nitish Kumar the face of the Chief Minister?" Tejashwi asked while speaking to news agency ANI.
Tejashwi said that if Dhankhar's resignation was truly about his health, he could have done so before the session began.
"On the first day of the monsoon session, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar conducted the House well, so his resignation at night is surprising. Now the question arises whether the resignation was given or taken. If it is about health, he could have resigned before the session... There are discussions that the resignation was taken, whether there is a reason or not, only he can explain better," Tejashwi said.
With Bihar set to go to polls in a few months from now, Tejashwi predicted that Nitish Kumar would meet the same fate as Dhankhar once the elections conclude in the state.
"We feel that what happened with Jagdeep Dhankhar will happen with Nitish Kumar after the elections. What happened with Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra will happen with Nitish Kumar," Tejashwi said, referring to the NDA's decision to appoint BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister, replacing Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde at the post after the Maharashtra elections last year.
Dhankhar created a flutter with his abrupt decision to quit as Vice President on Monday evening.
"To prioritise health care and abide by medical advice, I hereby resign as Vice President of India, effective immediately, in accordance with Article 67(a) of the Constitution," Dhankhar said in his letter addressed to the President.
He is the third Vice President after VV Giri and R Venkataraman to resign midway into their tenure. However, Giri and Venkataraman had resigned from the post of Vice President to contest the presidential election.
The Centre has so far maintained silence on the reasons behind Dhankhar's sudden move even as the Opposition sought to suggest "deeper motives" behind the decision.
A news18 report cited BJP sources as saying that Dhankhar's decision on Monday to announce that he had received a letter signed by 50 MPs regarding the impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma "without consulting the Treasury benches" may have upset the government. The Centre is in the process of bringing a similar motion in the Lok Sabha parallelly.
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