Yesterday morning Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu rejected the notice to initiate the impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. It was expected that the Opposition parties including the Congress party will pounce on the opportunity to hit back at the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Barely hours later, when Congress held its press conference on the Vice-President’s order, the tone and tenor of the statements were characteristically harsh. Congress leader and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal went on to term the order as “illegal”, “ill-advised” and “hasty.”
On April 20, seven opposition parties – including the Congress had met VP Naidu to submit the notice. It was signed and supported by 71 Upper House parliamentarians – seven of whom have retired. Opposition leaders had briefed the media on Friday on the five grounds on which they wanted the removal of CJI Misra. The timing of the press conference and impeachment motion were important. Congress party and other Opposition party leaders trained their guns on the CJI a day after the Supreme Court rejected five public interest litigations (PILs) seeking an independent probe into special CBI judge BH Loya’s death.
