Dharmendra Pradhan Slams Cong Over NEET Issue; Says NBE Will Announce PG Exam Dates Within Two Days

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan hit out at the Congress on Saturday, saying that the grand old party wants to run away from a discussion over the NEET controversy in the Parliament.

Pradhan's remark comes a day after ruckus in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha erupted over the opposition's demands for a discussion on the NEET UG 2024 issue. Leader of Opposition in the Lower House, Rahul Gandhi, had also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a "respectful" and good discussion over the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance test.

Reacting to the opposition's strike against the BJP-led central government, Pradhan said, "The Congress does not want a discussion. It wants to run away from the discussion," adding that the party's only intention is to create "chaos, confusion and create obstacles in smooth functioning of the entire institutional mechanism".

The Education Minister noted that President Droupadi Murmu had also talked about the NEET issue in her joint address to the Parliament.

The opposition had a chance to raise the matter during the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, Pradhan said, asserting that the government was ready for any type of discussion.

"But the Congress wants to play politics over the matter. It is not the time to play politics," Pradhan told reporters.

Without taking any names, the Education Minister said that there have been discrepancies that took place before 2014, supposedly indicating towards the UPA regime, saying "I could not justify it".

Pradhan said that a high-level committee of experts has been formed under the leadership of former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan, to ensure zero-error examinations and reforming the National Testing Agency (NTA).

NTA conducted the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test - Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 on May 5, for which around 24 lakh candidates had appeared. The results were announced on June 4, the same day as the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"A strong law has been formed against public examination and disruption," Pradhan said. He further reiterated that the issue related to the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance test has been handed over to the Central Bureau Of Investigation.

"We are meeting students and parents," he said.

Pradhan also said that the revised date for NEET PG will be announced by the National Board of Examinations (NBE) in one or two days.

Notably, the CBI made two more arrests in the alleged NEET controversy on Friday, nabbing the principal and vice principal of Hazaribagh, Jharkhand's Oasis School.

(With PTI inputs)