Parliamentary affairs minister terms move \u201cassault\u201d on chair of upper house and \u201cregrettable\u201d
\n NEW DELHI
\nIndian opposition parties moved on Tuesday to impeach Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, a spokesperson said, accusing him of being partisan in his role as chairman of parliament\u2019s upper house, in a first such move in the country\u2019s history.
\nDhankhar\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment but Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Dhankhar had been \u201cextremely professional and impartial\u201d.
\nThe step follows several weeks of disruption in parliament, where government and opposition parties have accused each other of not allowing legislative business by creating political controversies.
\nThe vice president holds India\u2019s second highest constitutional office, as well as being chair of the upper house of parliament. The vice president also acts as the country\u2019s president if there is a temporary vacancy. Although the move is symbolic as the opposition parties do not have enough votes to remove him, it is expected to worsen the fraught relations between the opposition and Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s government as Dhankhar was elected as a candidate of Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
\nThe opposition had \u201cno option but to formally submit a no-confidence motion\u201d against Dhankhar for the \u201cextremely partisan manner in which he has been conducting the proceedings of the council of states\u201d, Jairam Ramesh, spokesperson of the main opposition Congress party, said referring to the upper house.
\nThe \u201cpainful decision\u201d was taken in the interest of parliamentary democracy, Ramesh said on X.
\nMinister Rijiju said the move was an \u201cassault\u201d on the chair of the upper house and was \u201cregrettable\u201d.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t indulge in these kind of antics, it is not good for democracy, the vice president should be respected, the house and its chair should be respected, we oppose such notices. They can never be successful,\u201d he told reporters.
\nThe motion is unlikely to be heard this session as parliament is due to break on Dec 20, before a required 14-day notice period.
\nThe winter session that began on Nov 25 has been disrupted over issues including bribery allegations against billionaire Gautam Adani, religious conflict in a northern town and ethnic violence in the northeastern state of Manipur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parliamentary affairs minister terms move \u201cassault\u201d on chair of upper house and \u201cregrettable\u201d NEW DELHI Indian opposition parties moved on Tuesday to impeach Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, a spokesperson said, accusing him of being partisan in his role as chairman of parliament\u2019s upper house, in a first such move in the country\u2019s history. Dhankhar\u2019s office […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-448613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n