New DelhiSeptember 12, 2025 08:09 PM IST
First published on: Sep 12, 2025 at 08:09 PM IST
He chatted with his predecessor M Venkaiah Naidu, indulged in a chit-chat with MPs who walked up to him to exchange pleasantries, and surprised many by staying back for a customary high tea.
On Friday, Jagdeep Dhankhar made his first public appearance since stepping down as Vice-President almost two months ago at the swearing-in ceremony of his successor C P Radhakrishnan. Dhankhar was seated alongside his predecessors Naidu and Hamid Ansari. “He was engaged in a discussion with Naidu,” said a leader who attended the event.
Dhankhar had not been seen in public since his July 21 resignation, despite speculation about his surprise exit and the Opposition’s questions about his whereabouts. Recently, he vacated the Vice-Presidential bungalow and moved to Indian National Lok Dal chief Abhay Singh Chautala’s farmhouse in Chhatarpur in South Delhi, where he will stay till his official residence is ready.
Some of the MPs present at the oath ceremony said they did not expect the former V-P to turn up, given the political controversy over his exit. He had congratulated Radhakrishnan after his victory, saying that with his “vast experience in public life”, the office of the Vice-President would achieve “greater veneration and glory”. That was his first public statement after his resignation.
“He was pleasant, smiling, and jovial. There was no awkwardness as we all expected … he was behaving as if nothing had happened. In fact, I should say he never looked healthier in his life. And he even stayed back for the customary tea,” said an Opposition MP who was present at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
“Many of us walked up to him and exchanged pleasantries. His wife (Sudesh Dhankhar) was also with him. We all said we wanted to meet him. He said we will meet once he settles down at his new official accommodation. He, in fact, asked his aide to note down the names of those who want to meet him,” said another MP. Another parliamentarian said Dhankhar kept saying “we will meet” to those he chatted with.
Many senior Union Ministers also attended the customary tea. “Dhankhar was in some ways the show-stealer today. Many MPs and leaders walked up to him, some of the central ministers who were present too exchanged pleasantries,” said one MP.
Some of the Opposition MPs were miffed by the seating arrangement and what they termed as a “rewriting of protocol”.
“Is this a first? At the swearing-in of the V-P at Rashtrapati Bhavan today, the PM walked down the main aisle at 10 am. His arrival was announced: ‘Ladies & Gentlemen, the Hon Prime Minister of India’ (in Hindi). Usually, isn’t an announcement made, and all stand, only for the President of India?” Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) leader in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, wrote on X.
While Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, was absent, his Rajya Sabha counterpart and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was seated in the second row. Other MPs were seated on the fifth row, while a newly nominated Rajya Sabha MP was seated in the third row, prompting some Opposition MPs to wonder whether he had a “special pass”.