Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said that NEET was conducted for the first time in the State when the AIADMK was in power and challenged AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami to a one-on-one debate over the issue.
Addressing the party cadre in the district for the urban local bodies election via video conferencing from Chennai on Thursday, Mr. Stalin said that Mr. Palaniswami continued to lie that Congress and DMK introduced NEET in the country. “In 2010, when the Medical Council of India suggested NEET, the then Chief Minister K. Karunanidhi stiffly opposed it and wrote to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh”, he said and added that the DMK went to the Supreme Court in 2013 and the court withdrew the order on medical entrance test.
Mr. Stalin said that only after the BJP came to power, NEET was introduced in 2016 and the then Chief Minister, Jayalalitha, opposed it and obtained exemption for a year for the State. But after her demise, NEET was conducted when Mr. Palaniswami was the Chief Minister. Only after the DMK insisted, the AIADMK government introduced the Anti-NEET Bill, he said. Mr. Stalin said that though the President had returned the Bill, the AIADMK leaders kept silent on this for years.
“They were afraid to ask the Governor or the Central government and only because of it, NEET was conducted in the State for four years”, he added. “I am ready to prove it anywhere, anytime. But, are you ready for a debate”, he asked Mr. Palaniswami. Mr. Stalin highlighted various schemes implemented in the district, including the road to Kathirimalai hills that fulfilled the long-time demands of the people and asked the cadre to work hard to ensure victory in all the wards.
