Cong plan to withdraw plea correct: Singhvi

NEWDELHI: The Congress seems to have buried its plans to legally challenge Rajya Sabha chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu’s order on the Opposition’s notice seeking the removal of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, said three party leaders in the know of things. The stand, however, comes after deep divisions over the move within the party.

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday welcomed his party’s decision to withdraw the petition challenging Naidu’s rejection of an impeachment motion against CJI Misra. “Good and wise decision of Congress not to pursue impeachment issue with Cong MPS in SC any further,” he tweeted. Two Congress Rajya Sabha MPS Pratap Singh Bajwa and Amee Yajnik, withdrew their petition challenging Naidu’s rejection of the motion against CJI Misra on May 8 after the court refused to provide details of an administrative order that led to setting up of a constitutional bench to hear the matter.

The two MPS had moved the top court, alleging Naidu’s rejection was politically motivated.

Party insiders suggested that one section within the Congress pursued the motion in the wake of the four Supreme Court judges’ outburst at an unprecedented press conference in January, during which they aired grievances against the way the Chief Justice was allocating cases, exercising his power as master of the roster. This section thought a notice for impeachment would serve as a deterrent. The other section, led by Singhvi, felt that the move could portray the Congress as ‘anti-judiciary’ and would yield little since the party lacked numbers in the House to get it passed.

Singhvi even wrote a sevenpoint argument on why the Congress should not move the notice to the Rajya Sabha chairman.

“After Naidu rejected the notice, Singhvi gave another note to the party High Command saying that the rejection has given a chance for an honourable exit and it must be used. He not only cautioned the party from pushing its luck in the SC but also refused to appear for a subsequent appeal in the apex court,” said a senior party member.