INDIA bloc to demand discussion on NEET issue in Parliament on Friday

New Delhi: With the nation witnessing widespread protests over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) by the National Testing Agency, the Opposition is set to raise the issue in Parliament on Friday.

A meeting of the leaders of the Opposition coalition, the INDIA bloc, was held at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's house earlier in the day. They said that many issues were discussed in the meeting and they will also be raised in the Parliament on Friday.

"We will give notices (in Parliament) on the NEET issue tomorrow," DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said while speaking to ANI after the INDIA bloc meeting on Thursday.

The leaders also said that if the NEET issue is not taken up for discussion on Friday, then they would stage a protest inside the House.

"Several issues were discussed today in the meeting. There will be a debate on all the issues in the Parliament whether the President's address or the election of the speaker. You will see this in the coming days," Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said.

He said that the INDIA bloc leaders have also decided to participate in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address from Monday.

"All the burning issues of the country, we will raise it (in the Parliament)," Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, while leaving Kharge's house after attending the INDIA bloc meeting on Thursday.

President of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, Hanuman Beniwal, said that the Opposition is united and it will raise the issues of NEET among others in the Parliament. "Agniveer, inflation and unemployment and MSP will also be raised in the Parliament in the coming days," Beniwal said.

Amid the row over the NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday registered a criminal case over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the examination by the NTA and formed special teams to probe the matter.

As per the agency's FIR, certain "isolated incidents" occurred in a few states during the conduct of the NEET (UG) 2024 examination, which was held on May 5, 2024. ANI