Hyderabad: Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao on Sunday, July 26, demanded that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy give up the education portfolio if his government fails to clear the Rs 12,000 crore in pending dues under the students’ tuition fee reimbursement scheme.
Taking exception to Reddy leading a candlelight rally here on July 25 over the NEET paper leak issue, Rao said the Congress government would face public backlash if it failed to clear the pending dues under the scheme, which concerns about 20 lakh students.
Referring to the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, he said the BJP had proved its sincerity and that the CM should now take moral responsibility for the pending dues as well as the unfulfilled promise of an unemployment allowance.
“The certificates of students have been withheld by educational institutions because of the pending dues of Rs 12,000 crore. You don’t talk about that and instead take out a candlelight rally,” the BJP leader told reporters here.
Commenting on the protests in Delhi over the NEET paper leak issue, Rao expressed suspicion that “foreign forces” could be behind them.
Rao, who paid homage to the martyrs at the Veerula Sainik Smarak on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas, said patriotism should be promoted among the youth to make the country strong and secure.
“Kargil Vijay Diwas serves as a source of inspiration for the youth and strengthens the spirit of patriotism,” he added.
Responding to Ramchander Rao, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said that fee reimbursement arrears did not arise in a single day and are a “massive legacy issue” that accumulated during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime.
He asked the BJP to explain why they remained silent when the BRS government was imposing arrears on students.
‘The BJP, which is now playing politics in the name of fee reimbursement, should clarify where in the states it governs it is implementing this scheme. If there is genuine sincerity toward student welfare, the central government should implement the fee reimbursement scheme nationwide. At the very least, the centre should share the financial burden on the states by providing its share of funds.” the minister said in a post on X.
He further claimed that while the entire nation was talking about CM Revanth’s suggestion to lower the election contesting age to 21, the BJP has chosen to remain mute on the topic and is instead resorting to “theatrics” in the name of fee reimbursement.
“The BJP, which is destroying the future of students through exam paper leaks, has no minimal moral qualification to question anything about students.” the minister stated.
(With inputs from PTI.)
