Bhopal, Apr 9 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Congress has decided to make the recent alleged leak of Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET)-2022 question paper a poll plank during its campaign for the next year’s Assembly elections to target the BJP government in the state, a senior party leader said on Saturday.
Talking to PTI, MP Congress chief spokesperson and its general secretary K K Mishra said the party is planning to hold protests at district level across the state to highlight the alleged paper leak of TET held on March 25.
The TET was conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Karmachari Chayan Aayog (Staff Selection Board), which was earlier known as Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam) that had got embroiled in a controversy due to alleged rigging of exams for medical college admissions and job recruitment. The Vyapam scam, which had come to light in 2011, had rocked the state.
Mishra said state Congress president and former chief minister Kamal Nath had held talks with some senior lawyers over the issue in New Delhi two days ago.
“Nathji has talked to me and asked me to continue the party’s fight against corruption in Madhya Pradesh,” he added.
Mishra and Vyapam scam whistle-blower Dr Anand Rai have been accused of falsely alleging that an official from the chief minister’s office was involved in the alleged leak of TET paper.
Laxman Singh Markam, officer of special duty in the chief minister’s office, had last month lodged a police complaint saying that Rai and Mishra defamed him and tarnished his image by dragging his name into the controversy surrounding the paper leak. A purported screenshot of the leaked question-cum-answer sheet had gone viral on social media, in which the name of one Laxman Singh was visible.
Markam belongs to a tribal community. Police have registered an FIR against Mishra and Rai under IPC sections 419 (cheating by personation), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 470, (using a forged document as a genuine one), 500 (defamation), 504 (intentional insult) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on March 26.
Mishra said he won’t be bogged down by the FIR, like the one filed against him by Markam.
“The party is with me. This issue of alleged TET paper leak is related to the future of scores of young people. It is a very big issue. Our party is going to raise it and make it an important issue in the next Assembly polls in the state. We will fight for the truth,” he added.
The state police had arrested Rai from Delhi in connection with the case early on Friday.
Hours after his arrest, the state government suspended Rai, an ophthalmologist working as a medical officer at the Hukumchand Hospital in Indore, under the MP Civil Services Rules.
‘Vyapam’ had hit the national headlines after a massive recruitment scam in the board came to light in 2011. The Supreme Court had ordered a CBI probe in the scam in 2015. PTI LAL NP NP
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