DMK, Congress have no moral right to talk about NEET: TN Health Minister

Chennai

Both the DMK and Congress have no moral right or qualification to talk about the national level screening exam, he said.

Accusing the two parties of ensuring NEET in December 2010 when the UPA was in power at the Centre, Vijaya Baskar said the DMK was "confusing and distracting" the people and students on the issue now. "They are responsible for NEET. They sowed the seeds for the national level screening test and issued a notification on December 27, 2010. Now they are feigning as if they are concerned about the students," he said referring to the opposition's demand for banning NEET in the interest of Tamil Nadu students.

DMK was a key constituent in the Congress-led UPA I and II, before walking out of the alliance in 2013, citing the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. Speaking to reporters after launching a drive to distribute deworming pills to over 2.2 crore children across Tamil Nadu here, he said his party leader and late chief minister J Jayalalithaa had opposed NEET since it was introduced, and had even approached the court against it.

"There is a history behind it and the AIADMK government continues to maintain a consistent stand on the issue till now," the minister said. People would not accept whatever the DMK claimed now, as they are aware of the truth. Everyone knew that the exam was held on Sunday as per the order of the apex court, Vijaya Baskar, who had last month written to Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, seeking the cancellation of NEET exam, said.

DMK and other opposition parties have been training their guns against the BJP-led Centre and the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu over the NEET issue for long and have stepped up their attack following the alleged suicide of four medical aspirants in the state last week.