NEW DELHI: Union minister and BJP chief JP Nadda responed to the opposition’s claims that the absence of senior ministers from a key Rajya Sabha meeting was linked to Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s sudden resignation.Speaking to reporters in Parliament on Tuesday, Nadda confirmed that both he and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had informed the Vice President’s office that they would not be attending the 4:30 pm Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting chaired by Dhankhar.“The Vice President’s office was intimated about our inability to attend the meeting,” Nadda said, responding to allegations by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, PTI reported.Ramesh had claimed that Dhankhar “took umbrage” at their absence and rescheduled the BAC meeting for Tuesday, shortly before he stepped down from the Vice President’s post citing health reasons.Congress raises doubts over ‘health reasons’Congress leaders suggested there may have been deeper reasons behind Dhankhar’s sudden decision. Ramesh, in a post on X, said both Nadda and Rijiju had attended a 12.30pm BAC meeting on Monday, but were “deliberately” absent from the second session at 4:30 pm.“The sudden resignation of the Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is as shocking as it is inexplicable. I was with him alongside a number of other MPs till around 5 PM today and had spoken to him over the phone at 7:30 PM,” he said.“Mr. Dhankar took both the Government and the Opposition to task in equal measure. He had fixed a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee tomorrow at 1 PM. He was also to make some major announcements related to the judiciary tomorrow,” he added.Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi called the resignation “sudden and unfortunate,” and questioned whether the government had prior knowledge of Dhankhar’s decision.BJP pushes backThe BJP has dismissed the opposition’s allegations. A meeting of senior ministers was held on Tuesday, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Amit Shah, S. Jaishankar, JP Nadda, Kiren Rijiju, and others, amid the unfolding row.BJP MP Nishikant Dubey posted a sarcastic response on X, accusing the opposition of playing to the gallery, recalling how they had once moved for Dhankhar’s impeachment.