CHENNAI: The State government’s stance on implementing the Economically Weaker Section quota under National Entrance & Eligibility Test (NEET) would be announced on Monday after an all-party meet, State Health minister C Vijaya Baskar said while releasing the rank list for MBBS and BDS admissions 2019-2020 in Chennai on Saturday.
K Shruthi, the TN NEET topper, secured the first place in the State Rank list with a score of 685, while A K Aswin Raj with 677 marks was ranked second, and V Elamathi with 676 marks, third. Of the 31,353 candidates eligible for government quota seats this year, 1,461 are from government and aided schools.
Meanwhile, the Madras High Court was informed on Friday that two Bills of the State, praying for exemption from NEET, had been rejected by the President.
Cong fails to dissuade MLAs from resigning
THE disgruntled MLAs flew on a chartered flight to Mumbai even after several senior Congress leaders tried to dissuade them. KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre, Water Resources minister DK Shivakumar, Congress legislature party chief Siddaramaiah and AICC General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge KC Venugopal tried their best to dissuade the MLAs from deserting the coalition all through the day.
But they stood their ground and did not yield to requests. The MLAs — AH Viswhanath, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Somashekar, Pratap Gouda Patil, Gopalaiah, BC Patil, Mahesh Kumtahallli, Narayana Gowda, Byrati Basavaraj, Shivram Hebbar, Ramalinga Reddy and Muniratna — submitted their resignations to the Assembly secretary even as Speaker Ramesh Kumar refused to arrive at his office despite the legislators waiting for almost an hour.
The first sign of trouble came on Saturday morning when Khandre rushed to meet Ramalinga Reddy. In the absence of KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, both abroad on private visits, and Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara reacting to the scenario, the coalition was like a headless chicken.
The shadow over the mass resignations was all saffron even as the BJP vehemently denied having anything to do with Saturday’s developments. Party sources, however, suggest that a close aide of BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa and a BJP MLA from Bengaluru, played key roles in this crisis.
“Anand Singh was only the beginning,” said a party source, pointing out that the foundation of this crisis was laid last Saturday when Singh met a BJP MLA. For the coalition, the Speaker’s decision on the resignation seems to be the single thread of hope to hang on to. However, even that does not guarantee the passage of the Finance Bill. If it does not, it will essentially mean the collapse of the government.