The row over Maharashtra’s Education Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinod Tawde’s unrecognised engineering degree escalated on Tuesday as the opposition demanded his arrest on the lines of Delhi’s ex-law Minister and >Aam Adami Party MLA Jitender Tomar , with the Congress party holding a demonstration here on Tuesday on the issue. Mr. Tawde on Monday found himself at the centre of a controversy after it was revealed that his engineering college was not recognised by the government and he had used the degree granted by it although he was aware of the fact.
“First he must resign and then he should be put under arrest. There cannot be different laws for two people,” said Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister and Congress MLA Prithviraj Chavan. Leader of Opposition in the State Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil warned that the Congress would not let the upcoming monsoon session function if Mr. Tawde fails to resign.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also demanded Mr Tawde’s resignation. “…The Education Minister of this State has a fake degree and the BJP chose to ignore the matter completely. Is it the party with difference?” asked NCP’s leader Dhananjay Munde.
Mr. Tawde claimed that he had done nothing wrong and was proud of his college Dyaneshwar Vidyapeeth in Pune from where he completed his engineering course. On Tuesday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that there is no question of Mr. Tawde’s resignation as his degree certificates are correct.
