Five Tamil Nadu ministers rush to Delhi for Neet exemption

Chennai: Having come under tremendous pressure from opposition parties and students, the Tamil Nadu Government on Sunday rushed a high-powered delegation consisting of five senior ministers to New Delhi to ‘exert’ pressure on the Union Government to exempt students from the state from appearing before NEET.

Senior ministers P. Thangamani, S.P. Velumani, C. Ve. Shanmugam, C Vijayabhaskar and K.P. Anbazhagan rushed to the national capital on Sunday night, while Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami would travel to New Delhi on Monday night.

 The ministers are expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, health minister J.P. Nadda and Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad over the next two days and explain the state government's stand on Neet.

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The Ministers would ask the Prime Minister and Ministers to expedite Presidential assent for the state-specific amendment to the Neet legislation seeking exemption for students from the state.

 Mr Palaniswami, who will attend swearing-in of Ram Nath Kovind as President on Tuesday, is also expected to meet Mr Modi and urge him to intervene in the issue. The state government has been caught in a quandary on medical admissions after the Madras High Court struck down its order reserving 85 per cent of medical seats to students who graduated under the state board syllabus.

 Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have been accusing the government of ‘ignoring’ the rights of the students. A delegation of state ministers and MPs had met Mr Modi last week on the same issue, but there has been no improvement since then.