MK Stalin also wrote to Governor Banwarilal Purohit seeking his immediate approval to the bill
Chennai:
The DMK on Wednesday said it is ready to join forces with the AIADMK government and protest for getting the 7.5 per cent quota in medical admissions for state-run school students, a day after the ruling dispensation sought early clearance by the Governor for a bill envisaging the reservation.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami should come forward and announce a protest on the matter after consulting the opposition parties, DMK president MK Stalin said in a tweet.
In this matter, “DMK is ready to protest/agitate together with the AIADMK government.@CMOTamilNadu should come forward to announce protest (demonstration) by talking with parties,” the leader of the opposition in the state assembly said.
Mr Stalin also wrote to Governor Banwarilal Purohit seeking his immediate approval to the bill, passed by the assembly on September 15 for providing the horizontal reservation to students of government schools who clear the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
“I urge you to immediately give assent to the bill and help fulfillment of the dream of government school students to an extent to pursue medicine as their profession,” he said in the letter, a copy of which he shared with his tweet.
The DMK chief’s offer to work with the government and protest alongside AIADMK comes a day after a group of ministers, including KA Sengottaiyan and D Jayakumar, called on Purohit at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai to seek his nod for the bill.
The meeting came in the backdrop of various political parties, including the DMK and PMK, urging the Governor to give assent to the bill so that the quota can be implemented this year itself.
After the meeting, Mr Jayakumar had said the government was confident that Purohit would come out with a “favourable decision” on the bill which is aimed at lending a helping hand to students from government schools.
In his letter to the Governor, Mr Stalin said government school students could benefit from reservation in this academic year itself only if the Governor gave his assent to the bill “without further delay.”
He recalled that DMK, the principal opposition party in the state, had supported the TN Admission to Undergraduate Courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy on Preferential Basis to the students of the Government Schools Bill 2020 in the assembly.
Mr Stalin noted that his party has been demanding scrapping of NEET which acted as a “hindrance” for rural and urban poor to pursue medicine.
The 7.5 per cent reservation bill, passed unanimously by the assembly and sent to the Governor for his assent, was to bring equality between government and private school students, he said.
