On Saturday, senior BJP leader and Sambalpur MP Dharmendra Pradhan revealed that he resigned as Union Education Minister due to attempts to mislead Gen Z during the NEET paper leak protests. Pradhan made this statement while addressing students and teachers at GM University in Bhubaneswar, two weeks after his resignation. He emphasized that the post was not important to him, especially when compared to the aspirations of the 20 crore children born in India over the last decade. Pradhan believes these children will make India the ‘Vishwa Guru’.
Pradhan had approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi and offered to resign from the Union Council of Ministers, which he did on July 25. In another meeting in Rairakhol, Pradhan targeted former Odisha chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik, saying he was not disturbed by protests by BJD workers. Pradhan accused Patnaik of engaging youths in protests against him and asked if he had ever done anything to shame the people of Odisha. The gathering responded with a loud ‘No’.
Pradhan also mentioned that he became a Union minister 12 years ago with the blessings of Lord Jagannath and Goddess Samaleswari. His remarks against Patnaik came from a dais attended by BJD MLA and deputy leader in the Odisha Assembly Prasanna Acharya. BJD’s Sambalpur district president Rohit Pujari hit back at Pradhan, saying he had been criticized over the handling of student protests and that the BJP government’s ‘wrong policy’ had brought a bad name to Pradhan.
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📰 Source: Siasat Gulf