New Delhi: Social media has been abuzz about Dharmendra Pradhan’s future since he resigned as Union Education minister on Saturday, following a prolonged Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led agitation against NEET-UG paper leak.
Some media reports claimed that the Lok Sabha MP from Odisha’s Sambalpur was offered an alternative Cabinet berth as part of discussions following his resignation, but declined the proposal.
The BJP on Tuesday laid rest to such speculation, dismissing such media reports as “completely fictional” and “unfounded.”
“There is no basis to these reports. They are completely fictional and unfounded,” BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra said at a press conference.
After President Droupadi Murmu accepted Pradhan’s resignation on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister Pralhad Joshi was assigned additional charge of the Education ministry.
Pradhan’s resignation was the principal demand of the CJP, which spearheaded a massive protest at Jantar Mantar for nearly a month and a half. The government finally bowed to all demands after three rounds of meeting with CJP representatives.
The BJP reiterated that the Central government’s priority is to strengthen the country’s education system and restore the credibility of public examinations.
Besides change in minister, the Centre has announced a series of measures aimed at overhauling India’s examination system. A high-powered task force headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani was recently announced tasked with recommending technology-driven reforms for making public examinations more secure, transparent and tamper-proof.
The Modi government has also proposed amendments to the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, seeking stricter punishment for exam fraud and expanded powers for investigators to crack down on paper leak syndicates.
