Where is Jagdeep Dhankhar? Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh threw the question up in the air once again on Tuesday morning just as voting to elect India’s next vice president began Tuesday morning.
Dhankhar abruptly resigned as vice president on July 21 citing health issues and has been incommunicado since.
“For 50 days now, Shri Jagdeep Dhankar has maintained an uncharacteristic silence,” Ramesh wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Today as the election for his successor gets underway, the nation continues to wait for him to speak out after his unprecedented and unexpected resignation as VP following the expression of his concerns on the deep neglect of farmers by the Modi Govt, on the dangers posed by ‘ahankar’ of those in power, etc.”
Dhankhar’s abrupt exit had caught even political insiders by surprise.
His resignation was followed by a brief farewell note from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wished him “good health,” but no detailed comment from the government.
Many believe Dhankhar had angered the Modi government with his ambition and some of his decisions, and was forced to resign. Union home minister Amit Shah had denied that, advising against “stretching it too much” and suggesting the focus should be on “positive stories”.
Dhankhar has reportedly applied for the resumption of his pension as a former Rajasthan legislator. He had represented Kishangarh in the state Assembly as a Congress MLA between 1993 and 1998.
While he drew a pension until July 2019, it was discontinued when he became Governor of West Bengal. Dhankhar, now 74, is entitled to Rs 42,000 pension per month.
He had stepped out of his official residence on September 1 for a dental check-up after remaining house-bound for over a month since his resignation.
In Parliament on Tuesday, PM Modi was the first to mark his ballot in the vice-presidential election, followed by senior ministers and MPs across party lines.
The contest is between the ruling NDA’s nominee and former Tamil Nadu BJP president, C.P. Radhakrishnan, and the joint Opposition candidate, former Supreme Court Justice B. Sudershan Reddy.
Counting for the poll results will begin at 6 pm, with results expected by late evening.
Among the early voters were Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Kiren Rijiju.
