Congress Government responsible for rot in higher education sector:BJP MLA CT Ravi

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Jan 18, 2017: Addressing the gathering at BJP office in Mangaluru on January 18 , Wednesday BJP MLA CT Ravi while lauding Basavaraj Rayareddy, minister for higher education for his candid admission on financial misappropriation in 17 state universities to the tune of over Rs 500 crore, demanded that the minister order a probe by a sitting judge of Karnataka High Court into the matter. The present Congress government in Karnataka is solely responsible for this rot in higher education sector that started with then Governor H R Bharadwaj, he noted.

 

Noting that Bharadwaj put the post of vice-chancellors of state universities for sale based on caste, creed and money power of the aspirants, Ravi told reporters on Wednesday that very few made it to the post strictly on their merit. Urging Rayareddy not to stop with admission of the rot, Ravi urged him to reveal the number of cases registered against corrupt university officials since the Congress came to power in the state and what action has been taken against them.

Warning Rayareddy that he will come under immense pressure from within the government, party and even the party high command if he ventured to clean the rot, Ravi said he should withstand such pressures in the larger interests of higher education in Karnataka. "People of the state should be convinced that the government is serious about addressing the issue and this should be seen in the decisive actions being initiated against corrupt university officials," he added.

On the issue of state crying foul over what it termed as meagre drought relief assistance released by the centre, Ravi citing statistics from 2008 made it clear that Centre has never released what Karnataka had sought in times of natural crises that it faced. Financial assistance of Rs 1,540 crore and Rs 1,782 crore released in 2015-16 and 2016-17 by the Centre is the highest that Karnataka has ever received from the Centre since 2008 and it is up to the state to effectively use it.

BJP leaders Yogish Bhat, Sulochana Bhat,  Umanath Kotian, Monappa Bhandary and others were present.