Bengaluru, July 25 (IANS): Defending the passing of resolutions against NEET and ‘One Nation, One Election’ by the Congress government on Thursday, Minister for IT/BT, RDPR Priyank Kharge stated that hushing up of the NEET paper leaks was alarming and Karnataka can't close its eyes.
Speaking to reporters, Priyank Kharge stated, "We have moved a resolution like other states on safe, secure and transparent ways of conducting exams in the interest of students. How are they going to justify what has happened?
“The student who fails in 12th class in Gujarat gets 704 marks. How is the government defending it? How can we close our eyes? Seat blocking is resulting in people who do not pass class 12, becoming doctors.”
Asserting that Karnataka has the highest number of medical colleges, Priyank Kharge said, “We have been churning out medical professionals year on year. Even before NEET, we had our own entrance exam. In terms of conducting transparent examination, it had become a model.”
Priyank Kharge maintained that what was happening in NEET was unfortunate and the way it had been pushed under the carpet was quite alarming.
Commenting on the Centre’s delimitation proposal, Kharge stated, “If delimitation is going to be what the Centre wants, the southern states which are good governing states will get punished. We are going to get punished for being good citizens. It is not acceptable."
"We are economic growth engines for the country. You can't have a skewed representation in the Parliament in future. You can get any resolution favouring certain states, it will be passed because of numerical strength," he stated.
“More importantly, the BJP should explain how they will implement ‘One Nation, One Election’, when they are the ones who are orchestrating ‘Operation Lotus’ everywhere.
“Whenever, they don't have majority, they buy MLAs. Who is forcing bye-elections? Have you ever thought about it? What about panchayat, municipal and corporation elections? They happen at different times for various reasons and how will you ensure decentralisation?” Priyank Kharge questioned.
The Karnataka Assembly passed the resolutions against NEET, ‘One Nation, One Election’ and proposal for delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies on Thursday.