Narayanasamy slams Bedi over medical admission row

Says government had no role in filling management quota seats last year

Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Saturday accused Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi of unnecessarily dragging the government into the medical admission controversy. He said the government had no role in last year’s management seat medical admissions that took place in deemed universities and self-financing medical colleges.

Addressing a press conference here, the Chief Minister said the government had received a communication from the Medical Council of India regarding illegal admission process by the deemed universities and self-financing private medical colleges in 2016-17 academic year. The MCI had directed these institutions to discharge all the students admitted illegally, he said.

The government came to know that these educational institutions had approached the High Court challenging the MCI order, he said.

Last academic year, the management seats were filled by the colleges and the government or the Centralised Admission Committee had no role in the management seat admission process.

However, as per the MCI guidelines, Centac had conducted the admission for management seats this academic year. And there had been no complaints about the admission process, he added. When the fact was Centac had no role in the admission process, Ms. Bedi was making false allegations against the government.

The Lt. Governor had been making statements with the intent to tarnish the image of the government.

Ms. Bedi had been making such statements ever since she took over the reins of Raj Nivas. Such comments would only lower the dignity of Lt. Governor’s post, he added.

‘Govt. will intervene’

Asked what would happen to the students if the institutions were to discharge them as per MCI order, he said the government would intervene on “humanitarian ground” to help the students. If need arises, the government would hold talks with deemed universities and self-financing medical colleges to help the students, he said.

The officials were working on the government’s mass contact programme, the Chief Minister added. The Chief Minister also blamed the NDA government for the increase in price of petroleum products which had hit the common man hard.

The government was taxing the public to shore up the revenue of oil companies, he said. Mr. Narayanasamy said the political climate was conducive for the elevation of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi as party president. “People have realised the folly of electing the BJP and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls will prove it,” he said.