Chennai: Tamil Nadu MPs Kalanidhi Veeraswamy and TSK Ilangovan met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday to hand over Chief Minister M.K. Stalin's letter to seek solidarity in the issue of National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for medical courses. Tamil Nadu chief minister has been reaching out to all non-BJP ruled states to arrive on a consensus on abolishing the policy.
In the letter handed over to Jagan at his camp office in Thadepalli, Stalin has expressed his opposition against the Centre's interference in the admission process at the teaching hospitals that are set up and maintained by state governments.
In the letter, Stalin stated that the NEET policy was contrary to the spirit of the Confederacy and was threatening the rights of the states. "Our considered position has always been that the move by the union government to introduce NEET goes against the spirit of federalism and violates the constitutional balance of power by curbing the rights of the state governments to decide on the method of admission in the medical institutions founded, established and run by them," he wrote.
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The state governments need to assert their constitutional right and position in deciding the method of admission to their higher educational institutions, Stalin urged in a letter dated October 1, and made available to the media on Monday. The CM enclosed a copy of Justice A.K. Rajan Committee report based on which a Bill was passed in the Assembly last month to dispense with NEET exams for medical courses and depend on Class XII marks to ensure social justice.
A copy of that Bill, passed on September 13, was also attached with the letter to the Andhra CM. Stalin requested them to extend their support to ensure that the students in the respective states, hailing from rural areas and marginalised sections of the society are not put to hardship in obtaining admissions to higher educational institutions.
"We need to put up a united effort to restore the primacy of state governments in administering the education sector, as envisaged in our Constitution. I look forward to your cooperation in this crucial issue." Stalin wrote to the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, West Bengal and Goa.
(With inputs from agency)
