CONG DIVIDED ON CJI MOVE?

While a section in the Congress felt notice for CJI’s impeachment will be a “deterrent”, another section, led by Abhishek Singhvi, felt the move may portray the party as “anti-judiciary”.

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. HTC