Rajya Sabha proceedings adjourned till Monday amid ruckus over no confidence notice against Dhankhar

New Delhi: The Opposition move to seek impeachment of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar led to pandemonium in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, with Opposition and treasury benches clashing and the Chairman too wading into the issue.

The proceedings of the House, which have been marred because of the issue and the Adani controversy, were adjourned in the first hour itself but not before Dhankhar, saying he was a farmer’s son and he will not “show weakness”.

“Day in and day out there is only a campaign against the Chairman…..it’s a campaign not against me, it’s a campaign against category to which I belong,” he asserted.

“I am personally pained for a reason that the main Opposition party has put is as a blitz as a campaign against the Chairman. They are entitled to bring motion against me. This is their constitutional right but they are deviating from the constitutional provisions…,” he said.

The Chairman, before adjourning the proceedings at around 11.45 am till Monday, appealed to Leader of Opposition in the House Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the House J P Nadda to come to his chamber for finding a way out to end the logjam.

“I appeal to you Khargeji, please spare time, accept my prayer, see me in my chamber today. Same request I am making to the Leader of the House also...I will try to navigate things so that we are able to work as member of the House. I would expect Kharge Ji to respond. Lets us meet in my chamber and find a way out,” Dhankhar said. To this, a visibly angry Kharge retorted: “How can I respect you. You are insulting me”. As he was speaking, the Chair adjourned the proceedings till Monday.

Trouble arose after BJP’s Radha Mohan Das Agrawal raised a point of order and narrated the procedure related to the no-confidence motion against Vice President of India, who is an ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Agarwal spoke at length on the impeachment notice given by the Opposition parties, calling it an insult to the nation and the chair of the Vice President and farmers. He said the notice as the rules specify is to be taken up after 14 days but the Congress leaders have gone to the press with allegations.