Jagdeep Dhankhar: The curious case of a 'missing' former vice president

Former vice president and ex-chairman of the Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankhar has been advised to rest, lie low and not meet visitors, claim members of his extended family.

Some of these relatives also claim that while the former vice president has decided to shift to his own sprawling house in Noida, he is unlikely to do so before the election of the next vice president to fill up the vacancy caused by Dhankhar’s resignation.

These sources say that the former vice president is closeted in a smaller accommodation with his wife, daughter, son-in-law and attendants while the official accommodation meant for him as a former vice president is being readied.

Multiple sources in Jaipur and various extended family members, however, claim that the former VP has made up his mind against accepting the official residence. They wouldn’t or couldn’t explain the basis of their conviction, though — for by their own account, the former VP has not met even his relatives since his sudden and dramatic resignation on 21 July 2025.

Where is Jagdeep Dhankhar, Kapil Sibal asks

The former vice president is also learnt to have skipped the founder‘s day celebration of his alma mater, Sainik School Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, on 8 August, even though his office had earlier confirmed his availability for the event and the naming of the sports arena in his honour. In his absence, the Jagdeep Dhankhar Sports Arena was inaugurated by the Border Security Force (Rajasthan Frontier) inspector general, also an alumnus of the school.

This too is unusual, because his participation had been confirmed by his office and himself as well. With outgoing presidents and vice presidents remaining entitled to secretarial services, it is odd that the school was not informed of his inability to attend the event.

The outgoing vice president, it is worth recalling, had presided over yet another stormy session of the Rajya Sabha the very day he stepped down and had called a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) at 12:30 p.m. after adjourning the House. The meeting was attended, among others, by the leader of the House, BJP president J.P. Nadda and union minister Piyush Goyal as well as those from the Opposition.

The BAC had met to sort out the stalemate over the impeachment motion moved by Opposition MPs against Justice Yashwant Varma of the Allahabad High Court. While the Rajya Sabha chairman announced that he had received the motion and found it to be in order, the government apparently wanted the motion to be moved by itself in the Lok Sabha.

With discussions inconclusive, it was decided to convene another meeting of the BAC at 4:30 p.m. again the same day. Nobody from the government side, however, turned up for the meeting. Congress MP Jairam Ramesh later claimed that he was with the vice president till 5:30 p.m. and had spoken to him last at 7:30 p.m. — and Mr Dhankhar did not complain of any discomfort in this time.

However, after an unscheduled meeting with the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan later that evening, the VP announced his resignation due to health reasons around 9 p.m.

Since then, nobody seems to have met or spoken to the outgoing vice president.

Far deeper reasons for Jagdeep Dhankhar’s resignation as V-P: Congress

It is unusual because the former VP was active socially and politically and, having been a lawyer at the Supreme Court, also fraternised with a large number of people in the legal community. Now, neither he nor his personal secretary and attendants have been responding to phone calls.

The government has been tight-lipped about the former vice president’s health and his whereabouts. There has been no corroboration of media reports that he had left the vice president’s enclave in a great hurry and vacated the premises within hours of his resignation, which too is described as unusual in Lutyen’s Delhi, where political appointees rarely vacate their sprawling official accommodation even at the risk of being charged the steep market rent for overstaying their tenure.

Dhankhar, as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, protected the government; but now we (the Opposition) have to protect him, said Rajya Sabha MP and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal.

Both Sibal and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut have wondered aloud whether the former vice-president is under house arrest and have appealed to union home minister Amit Shah to clear the air. The home minister is yet to react, even after Sibal provocatively posted, “I am concerned. It does not look nice that I go and file an FIR. There is no news from him, from his friends or family.”

VIDEO | In a press conference, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) says, "On July 22, Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned, we don't know where he is... It seems that the Opposition will have to protect him. I had called, I was informed he is taking rest, after that, nobody is taking… pic.twitter.com/nMoqw3HtHo

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 9, 2025

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar

Can we be informed :

Where is he ?
Is he safe ?
Why is he incommunicado ?

Amit Shah ji should know !

He was our Vice President ; the country should be worried !

— Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) August 9, 2025

Dhankhar’s nephew Dino Dhankhar, a young and upcoming polo player, is said to have visited him in New Delhi and secured a brief meeting with his uncle after first being denied entry by security. He, however, was tight-lipped after the meeting and told mediapersons that his uncle was not well and has been advised complete rest.

He confirmed that the former VP was not meeting anybody and has not stepped out of the house also. His wife, daughter and son-in-law are all confined in the house, Dino Dhankhar is said to have confirmed.

Political circles in Jaipur, however, claimed that union minister and RLD leader Jayant Choudhry, grandson of former prime minister Charan Singh and son of late RLD chief and union minister Ajit Singh, had conveyed to Dhankhar the prime minister’s message that he should resign immediately.

Jayant Choudhry, a close family friend of the Dhankhars — since both he and Ajit Singh took legal advice from the former VP — is said to be the only one who is allowed to meet the family. Choudhry is believed to have called on the former VP a number of times since his resignation.

BJP circles in Rajasthan are tight-lipped and refuse to speak on the issue — especially since state BJP spokesperson J.K. Janu, who was critical of the way Dhankhar was made to resign and his subsequent treatment by the party, was expelled from the party for six years for raising the issue.

Was vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar asked to resign?