Drop Kimmane Ratnakar from Cabinet: Karnataka BJP chief Pralhad Joshi

Belagavi: The state unit of BJP on Saturday demanded dismissal of primary and secondary education minister Kimmane Ratnakar, holding the education department responsible for creating confusion which prompted some students to commit suicide.

State unit chief Mr Pralhad Joshi told the media that Mr Ratnakar should be removed from the cabinet holding him responsible for all the mess. Due to lapses in the process of designing question papers for PU students, the department has no choice but to give grace marks to the students. The department, however, has not given grace marks which it announced during the process of evaluation of papers. Unfortunately, the marks of students vary in different websites which announced the results, he added.

The government lacked seriousness about the students' future. Even though the education department is responsible for all the lapses and confusion, the students are forced to pay more to get photocopies of their answer sheets, he said urging the government to cut the fee being imposed on students for answersheets.

Mr Joshi urged the government not to announce the results of Common Entrance Test (CET) until the problems related to announcement of PU results are resolved. Demanding a response from the state government on the fees' policy, he said, the government should hold a meeting with parents, people's representatives and public on government's proposed programme to hike CET fees and table the issue in the Assembly to get the earlier fees policy of 2006 amended.

Highlighting the problems faced by students of areas in north-Karnataka in travelling from their place to Bengaluru, Mr Joshi demanded the establishment of a regional centre for north Karnataka to streamline the process.