New Delhi, May 28: Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Rahul Gandhi have been engaged in a fierce public spat over the CBSE exam row, with Pradhan accusing Gandhi of politicising the issue and being frustrated and the Congress leader hitting back, asserting that attacking him would not absolve the union minister of his “crimes”.
Pradhan’s attack came after Gandhi alleged irregularities in the CBSE exam system and demanded an independent judicial probe and constitution of a Special Investigation Team to unearth the truth behind the “entire scam”. He also alleged that a firm with a murky past in Telangana was handed the contract by CBSE for digital evaluation of answer books.
Targeting Gandhi, Pradhan said the Leader of Opposition appeared “frustrated” due to continuous electoral defeats and accused him of opposing reforms and technological progress and accused him of politicising the issue.
“But as far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned, he seems to have reached a different state of mind. Due to continuous electoral defeats, he appears frustrated. He opposed SIR, he used to oppose EVMs, and he opposed Digital India. He does not seem to stand with India’s scientific progress,” he said.
He emphasised that the CBSE’s actions align with the Government of India’s procurement policy and assured that if any irregularities are discovered, action will be taken against those responsible.
Hitting back, Gandhi said, “Dharmendra Pradhan ji, you can attack me all you want, but it won’t absolve you of your crimes. Nor will it stop me from demanding answers for 18.5 lakh children.” Posing a string of questions in a post on X, Gandhi asked why the CBSE OSM contract was handed to COEMPT – “a company already mired in controversy under its old name, Globarena?”.
“On whose orders was it done? Why were no background checks done? What is the connection between COEMPT’s management and the Modi government?” Gandhi asked. (PTI)
