BJP wants to control narrative, creating illegality by picking LS and not RS: Congress on notice to remove Justice Yashwant Varma

NEW DELHI: Accusing BJP of “petty mindset” and “illegality”, Congress on Saturday said the govt’s decision to ignore the notice to remove Justice Yashwant Varma in Rajya Sabha in favour of the one submitted in Lok Sabha is dictated by its desire to control the narrative about the issue, stemming from its “insecurity” that the opposition had scored on corruption by moving first in the upper house.

The LS notice is bipartisan signed by 152 MPs across party lines, while the one in RS is exclusively signed by opposition members.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi slammed the announcement by parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, alleging it was now clear that former RS chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar’s belated independent act on the Varma issue riled the Modi govt and resulted in his ouster. With Rijiju saying that the RS had not “admitted” the notice, Singhvi said Dhankhar mentioned the notice in the House in detail on Monday talking about it meeting legal and numerical requirements, which was tantamount to admitting it. The Congress MP asked the govt if RS should be giving long judgments like a judicial court to show “admission”.

Interestingly, Singhvi, a senior lawyer, alleged BJP MPs signed a blank paper in the room of defence minister Rajnath Singh on Monday, which was likely an “impeachment notice against Dhankhar”. He termed Dhankhar’s abrupt resignation the same day as BJP having “camouflaged a political exit as a constitutional lie”,

He warned that the govt may be committing a major violation by constituting the statutory committee to probe Varma exclusively on the LS notice, and said the defendant may use it as a “legal loophole” to challenge the removal process in court to seek relief, and even get the committee for it scrapped.

“Judicial Inquiry Act itself is liberal and promotes bipartisanship between RS and LS. But the govt is promoting division and competition between the two Houses. It is a petty mindset borne out of insecurity that the opposition moved in RS first,” he told reporters. “LS and RS can do it together. It makes the process stronger. The govt has committed institutional sabotage and violated the Constitution.”


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