Jagdeep Dhankar’s Closeness With Opposition Did Not Go Unnoticed: Meetings With Kharge To Kejriwal

Last Updated:July 22, 2025, 20:13 IST

Jagdeep Dhankar tried to build bridges with the Opposition to belie claims that he was being partisan as the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha

Jagdeep Dhankar recently met Mallikarjun Kharge and Arvind Kejriwal. (X)

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 Dhankar a visit at the V-P Enclave.

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

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 Dhankar 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. Dhankar was hospitalised in AIIMS in March for cardiac issues.

But it seems post March, Dhankar tried to build bridges with the Opposition to belie claims that he was being partisan as the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. He often met Kharge as well as Jairam Ramesh of the Congress, alongside Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari. Both Ramesh and Tiwari are now at the forefront questioning why Dhankar had put in his papers suddenly and advocated that the government must convince him to take back the resignation. This is complete sea change from last December.

Exceeding Remit: Like On NJAC

Dhankar has been a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) man till he was chosen as the West Bengal Governor by the Modi government in 2019, where he took on the Mamata Banerjee government. In 2022, Dhankar was elevated as the Vice-President of India. But lately, the government felt he was exceeding his remit by speaking on issues he had no jurisdiction over. The prime example was his ‘campaign’ to bring back an NJAC-like body after the Justice Yashwant Verma matter came to light. He met floor leaders in the Rajya Sabha over the issue as well.

But the government was clearly in no mood to upset the judiciary with a move like the NJAC. Home Minister Amit Shah at a CNN-News18 event recently clearly said the government had no such proposal. But Dhankar’s continued public statements on this created an impression that it was the government which was prompting him to say so — which was not the case. Dhankar was repeatedly also criticising why no FIR had been filed against Justice Yashwant Verma so far. This was going far beyond his remit of Vice-President.

The final trigger for Dhankar to resign is said to have been his telephonic argument on Monday evening with a senior minister over why he had admitted an impeachment motion against Verma submitted by 65-odd Opposition MPs. While the government was caught unawares on the move, Dhankar is said to have cited his constitutional powers as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to admit the notice. Later on Monday, both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) JP Nadda and Kiren Rijiju skipped a 4:30 PM meeting called by Dhankar.

All this showed matters had gone too far after a build-up of mistrust over the last few months.

What Next?

The Modi government would prefer a loyal BJP leader as the next Vice-President as it does not want to take any chances in the Rajya Sabha where the numbers are delicately poised. Various names are doing the rounds like Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, someone from among the other senior Cabinet Ministers or one amongst the senior BJP MPs in the Rajya Sabha. The next Vice-President will get a full five-year term.

Aman Sharma

Aman Sharma, Executive Editor - National Affairs at CNN-News18, and Bureau Chief at News18 in Delhi, has over two decades of experience in covering the wide spectrum of politics and the Prime Minister’s Office....Read More

Aman Sharma, Executive Editor - National Affairs at CNN-News18, and Bureau Chief at News18 in Delhi, has over two decades of experience in covering the wide spectrum of politics and the Prime Minister’s Office....

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News politics Jagdeep Dhankar’s Closeness With Opposition Did Not Go Unnoticed: Meetings With Kharge To Kejriwal