• Source:JND
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Union Minister Kiren Rijiju called the INDIA bloc's move to submit notice for the removal of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar as "extremely regrettable". The senior BJP leader, while speaking to the press, said that the vice president is extremely professional and impartial.

“The Opposition disrespect the dignity of Chair, be it in Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha... Congress party and their alliance continuously behaved wrongly by not following the direction of the Chair. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji comes from a humble background. He always talks about farmers' and people's welfare inside and outside the parliament. He guides us. We respect him,” Rijiju was quoted as saying by ANI.

“The notice that has been served - I condemn the step of those 60 MPs who have signed the notice. NDA has the majority and we all have faith in the chairman. We are happy with the way he guides the House...” the parliamentary affairs minister said.

 

Another BJP leader, Dinesh Sharma, asserted that there were no valid grounds to impeach Vice President Dhankar. 

The opposition parties on Tuesday submitted a notice to move a motion for removing Dhankar for allegedly conducting the Upper House in a partisan manner. The vice president is the Rajya Sabha's ex-officio chairman.

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Congress MP Jairam Ramesh and Naseer Hussain submitted the notice to Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody. On being asked to comment, Sharma said, "I think they lack understanding of the constitutional process. A no-confidence motion cannot be brought against the vice president or chairman (of the Rajya Sabha)."

An impeachment motion can "perhaps" be brought under Rule 67 (b) when the person holding the position of Rajya Sabha chairman indulges "in some kind of indiscipline or partisan or such an act which goes beyond the ambit of the Constitution", he said.

"In this case, nobody is more humble than the chairperson (in the House). He spoke to everyone with folded hands," Sharma he told PTI in the Parliament complex.

The notice, spearheaded by the Congress, came in the wake of turbulent ties between opposition parties and Dhankhar.

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"All parties belonging to the INDIA group have had no option but to formally submit a no-confidence motion against the learned Hon'ble Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for the extremely partisan manner in which he has been conducting the proceedings of the Council of States. It has been a very painful decision for the INDIA parties to take, but in the interests of parliamentary democracy they have had to take this step," Ramesh said in a post on X.