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Pawan Khera slams new Education Secretary's appointment

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera on Friday questioned the Centre over the appointment of IAS officer Naresh Pal Gangwar as Higher Education Secretary, alleging subsidy-linked irregularities during his tenure as Secretary to the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. Naresh Pal Gangwar was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Higher Education late Thursday night amid the ongoing NEET-UG paper leak row and demands for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Vineet Joshi has been transferred to Secretary in the Department of Panchayati Raj.

Speaking to ANI, Pawan Khera emphasised Pradhan's resignation as a non-negotiable condition for dialogue on the paper leak controversy. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's late-night video on social media, announcing that the Cabinet is coming up with stricter measures for paper leaks, the Congress leader said, "Was there any discussion held on this crisis that the youth of our country are facing? Yesterday, in his midnight video, the Prime Minister made tall claims. What has he gone and done? He has replaced a controversial Education Secretary with another controversial Education Secretary. Mr Gangwar has very serious question marks against his integrity because, in his previous role as Secretary of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, he gave his own family a subsidy that was controlled by his department."

"Do you not have any honest, clean-image officers left, or do they not want to work with you? What is the issue? When is Mr Dharmendra Pradhan resigning? These are the fundamental questions that the country needs answers to," he added.

Rahul Gandhi highlights protestor's injury, demands action

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, earlier today, brought before the media a protester, who he said had suffered pellet gun injuries during the protest and said there is no guarantee his eye would be saved. Referring to Gandhi's media interaction, Pawan Khera said, "The Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge have been consistently demanding, as a non-negotiable condition, the resignation of Mr Dharmendra Pradhan. Mr Gandhi also held a press conference an hour ago, where he showed a man with pellet gunshot injuries on his body. He has lost an eye. Mr Gandhi has demanded that all those responsible for the decision to fire pellet guns on our own countrymen, in our own country, in the capital city, should face action. The Prime Minister needs to apologise to all of us."

While Congress has consistently sought Pradhan's resignation, Khera said that even after the demand is fulfilled, the people would not be satisfied given the lack of trust in the central government. "As I said, the youth of the country want Dharmendra Pradhan out. Even if he resigns, the country will not be satisfied because the country has lost trust in this government. The aura that a Prime Minister of this country always carries, whoever the Prime Minister is, is completely lost. We do not like the kind of slogans that are being raised against the Prime Minister. It's not good. But it also shows that the Prime Minister has lost the moral leadership that the office of the Prime Minister should carry," he said.

Govt opens dialogue with protestors

Amid a deadlock in Parliament on the NEET-UG paper leak issue, where the government has called for discussion while the Opposition has demanded Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation, the government has initiated a dialogue with Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which is leading the ongoing protest at Jantar Mantar. Earlier today, Union Ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh met with the Cockroach Janata Party delegation.

Following the meeting, JP Nadda told reporters, "The meeting went on for almost two hours. They had three main demands and five reform suggestions for exams. We have told them that we will meet them again tomorrow afternoon and tell them about the discussion we had among the government." CJP's National Spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka claimed that the government was positive on their other two demands, which included compensation for suicide victims of the NEET leak and no FIRs against protesting students. (ANI)