MK Stalin says securing presidential nod to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET only solution

Chennai: DMK working president MK Stalin on Sunday said securing the presidential nod for the bill passed in the Assembly to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET examination was the only solution to safeguard the interests of students from the state. “The recent announcement by Edappadi K Palaniswami government about medical admissions being solely based on NEET scores is an attempt to divert the issue away from the spectacular failure of this government”, he said in a statement in Chennai. [caption id=“attachment_3693129” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the President of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MK Stalin. PTI[/caption] “The only solution to safeguard the interest of the students in the state is to work towards securing the presidential assent to the NEET bill passed unanimously in the state legislature,” he said. “DMK had pointed out that thousands of poor and rural students would be affected if NEET-based admission is implemented,” he said. Noting that the AIADMK government introduced a bill to address the issue and it was unanimously passed in the state assembly, he said, AIADMK failed to establish its rights and lend voice to the unanimous resolution passed in the Assembly. The three factions of the AIADMK should have put forth a condition that they would offer support to NDA’s presidential candidate only if the Centre accepted the NEET bill passed by the legislative assembly, he said. Stalin asked Palaniswami why his government remained silent when Central government did not send the NEET bill to the president to get his “assent”. “How is the state government going to protect the interests of the students who had performed exceedingly well in the board examinations conducted by the state government?” he asked.