Congress fumes as CJI impeachment notice is rejected, calls it fight between 'Rejecting Democracy and Rescuing Democracy'

Taking to Twitter, Surjewala said, "This is truly a fight between forces 'Rejecting Democracy' and voices 'Rescuing Democracy'."

NEW DELHI: Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre soon after Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu rejected Oppositions' impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra. Taking to Twitter, he said, "This is truly a fight between forces 'Rejecting Democracy' and voices 'Rescuing Democracy'."

While the constitutional process of impeachment is set in motion with 50 MPs giving agreement, the removal notice of the CJI was agreed to by as many as 64 MPs, Surjewala pointed out. "The RS Chairman cannot adjudge the motion as he has no mandate to decide the merits of the motion," said the spokesperson of the grand old party.

Taking a dig at the government, Surjewala said, "Within hours of 64 MP’s submitting the impeachment motion, Leader of Rajya Sabha (Finance Minister Arun Jaitley) had expressed naked prejudice by calling it a ‘revenge petition’ virtually dictating the verdict to Rajya Sabha Chairman on that day." He questioned, "Has ‘Revenge Petition’ now become ‘Rescue Order’?"

In another tweet, Surjewala further said, "If all charges were to be proved before inquiry as RS Chairman suggests, Constitution and Judges (Inquiry) Act will have no relevance."

In a major jolt to the Centre, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Naidu decided not to consider the opposition's "impeachment motion" against Justice Misra pointing out that there was lack of substantial merit in it following consultations with legal experts.

The rejection of the notice comes a day after he held the consultations with such experts to determine the maintainability of the motion.

In an unprecedented move, leaders of Opposition parties met Naidu on Friday and handed over the notice of impeachment against the CJI bearing signatures of 64 MPs and seven former members, who recently retired. Lawmakers from the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Muslim League had signed the motion.