Where is Dhankhar, asks Rahul, at VP nominee felicitation

NEW DELHI: Urging fellow MPs to remember the reason behind the premature vice-presidential election, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi Wednesday asked, "where has the old VP gone", echoing queries about Jagdeep Dhankhar's whereabouts in the wake of his absence from public view since his shock resignation exactly a month ago. He even joked that search for Dhankhar has become like "those Agatha Christie books".

At a gathering of opposition MPs to felicitate their VP candidate B Sudershan Reddy, Rahul said there was a story behind why Dhankhar stepped down and there is a story behind "why he is in hiding". He said, "Why is the (former) VP of India in a situation where he cannot say a word, one word, and has to hide... everybody knows it.... Suddenly, the person who used to burst forth in Rajya Sabha has gone silent, completely silent. So, these are the times we are living in".

Kharge framed the contest between Reddy and BJP nominee CP Radhakrishnan as "Constitution vs RSS". He said, "It is an ideological battle for the soul of our nation. While the ruling party has chosen the ideology of RSS, we uphold the Constitution as our guiding light."

In an allusion to complaints the opposition had with Dhankhar as the Rajya Sabha chairman, Kharge said Reddy's nomination is a promise of restoring fairness to the functioning of the Upper House.

Underlining that he keeps abreast of the parliamentary proceedings, VP nominee Reddy said, “I just remembered one quote of Lohia, ‘Jab Sadak Khamosh Hain, Sadan Aawara Banti Hain’. (When streets are silent, the parliament becomes wayward)”. He added that Rahul does not allow the streets to stay silent.

In an allusion to complaints the opposition had with Dhankhar as the RS chairman, Kharge said Reddy’s nomination is a promise of restoring fairness to the functioning of the upper house and ending the transgressions against the Constitution. He said the Parliament is witnessing a growing trend of stifling opposition voices and advancing the BJP’s ideology.

Claiming that there is a war between those who are attacking the Constitution and those who are defending it, Rahul said, “I happened to look inside his (Reddy’s) pocket, and to my surprise, he had a copy of the Constitution of India. He carries it everywhere. He mentioned that he has been carrying the copy for 52 years.”

In the thick of the row triggered by Modi govt’s bill on unseating ministers and chief ministers jailed for 30 days, Kharge said it will be used to destabilise the state govts, especially after a “blatant misuse of parliamentary majority over 11 years to arm the autonomous agencies with draconian powers to target opposition leaders”.

Congress leader KC Venugopal said the opposition will hold a mock poll on September 8 to familiarise the MPs with the voting in the VP election.