The absence of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar from the tarmac of Palam airport as US Vice President J.D. Vance touched down in India and Dhankhar not hosting the state dinner in his counterpart’s honour has fuelled speculation in Delhi.

Dhankhar’s no-show at the Palam airport this morning raised questions whether the Narendra Modi dispensation is unhappy after the Vice President’s recent criticism of a Supreme Court directive.

As Vance arrived in Delhi, VP Dhankhar was on board a flight to Jaipur where he was received by Manju Baghmar, a junior minister in the Rajasthan government for public works and women and child development.

The development comes days after Dhankhar, while addressing the sixth batch of Rajya Sabha interns, described the Supreme Court as a “super Parliament”.

Referring to a recent directive from the apex court to the President of India’s assent to state bills in a time-bound manner, Dhankhar said, “There is a directive to the President by a recent judgment. Where are we heading? What is happening in the country? We have to be extremely sensitive. It is not a question of someone filing a review or not. We never bargained for democracy for this day. President being called upon to decide in a time-bound manner, and if not, becomes law.”

He also described Article 142 of the Constitution as a “nuclear missile against democratic forces available to the judiciary”.

“We cannot have a situation where you direct the President of India and on what basis? The only right you have under the Constitution is to interpret the Constitution under Article 145 (3),” Dhankhar had said.

The VP’s comment was followed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey calling upon Parliament to be shut down if the Supreme Court would make the laws.

BJP president J.P. Nadda had to intervene and proclaim the party did not endorse the MP’s stand, indicating that the attack on the judiciary did not go down well with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A senior BJP leader in Delhi downplayed the absence of the Vice President from Delhi, saying the statements of the Vice President and Dubey were made in a different context.

“Not much needs to be made about him being away from Delhi while the US Vice President is in town,” the BJP leader insisted.

The Telegraph Online tried to contact Sunil Kumar Gupta, secretary to Vice President Dhankhar, for comment. We were told Gupta is on leave. Officer on special duty Rajesh N. Naik and personal secretary Alok Ranjan Ghosh could not be reached.

The Telegraph Online has reached out to the office of the Vice President, and this article will be updated if the VP’s office responds..

A senior official in the ministry of external affairs denied any protocol breach in the Vice President not receiving his US counterpart.

“The minister-in-waiting is always assigned to receive dignitaries,” the senior official, who requested anonymity, told The Telegraph Online. “There is nowhere in the protocol that a VP receives a VP. Minister Vaishnaw went as per protocol.”