Just a trailer: Jairam Ramesh on rejected ‘no-confidence notice’ against Dhankhar

PTI New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday said the opposition parties could again submit a notice to move a motion of no-confidence against Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar in the Budget Session, asserting the notice that was rejected was “only a trailer”. Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh on Thursday dismissed the impeachment notice moved by the opposition seeking removal of Vice- President Dhankhar while ruling it as an act of impropriety, being severely flawed and drawn in haste to mar his reputation.

“Our notice for motion of no confidence against the chairman has not been accepted. There is no limit that has been put in the Constitution on how many times you can bring a motion of no confidence. So, the Budget Session will begin on January 30, we will see,” he told PTI. Asked about the possibility of the opposition parties submitting the notice again in the next session, Ramesh answered, “Bilkul (yes).” “This was the first step, as far as the motion of no confidence is concerned, this was just a trailer,” the Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP said.

In his three-page ruling, tabled in the House by Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody, the deputy chairman said the impeachment notice was part of a design to denigrate the nation’s constitutional institutions and malign the incumbent vice-president. At least 60 opposition members signed the notice for the removal of Dhankhar from his post on December 10, alleging they did not have trust in him and that he was “biased”. The notice was moved by the opposition members under Article 67(b) of the Constitution as intention of a no-confidence motion against the vice-president of India.

The deputy chairman ruled that the gravity of this “personally targeted” notice, which he described as bereft of facts and aimed at securing publicity, and said it needed to be exposed, being a “misadventure” in deliberate trivialising and demeaning of the high constitutional office of vice-president of the largest democracy.