HCU suicide: 'Smriti spoke one lie after another,' says Kejriwal at univ campus

The Delhi CM is also hit out at Union Minister Dattatreya over his letter to HRD ministry.

Hyderabad: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who reached Hyderabad Central University on Thursday, hit out at Smriti Irani and Union Minister whileinteracting with students who have been protesting over the death of research scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide in Sunday.

'Smriti Irani spoke one lie after another, she tried to create controversy over Rohith's caste,-" alleged Kejriwal.

Earlier, Kejriwal had targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the suicide, demanding that he should sack the Union Minister accused in the matter and also apologise to the nation.

-"Modi govt constitutionally duty bound to uplift dalits. Instead Modiji's ministers got five dalit students ostracised n suspended,-" he said in a tweet.

Modi govt constitutionally duty bound to uplift dalits. Instead Modi ji's ministers got five dalit students ostracised n suspended(1/2)

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 19, 2016

Students have been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike from yesterday as a part of the ongoing agitations.

The two-member fact-finding committee sent by the Union HRD ministry to probe the suicide is learnt to have found fault with the university administration for its inept handling of the students’ suspension issue, which triggered unrest on the campus for the past four months.

The committee is expected to submit its report to the ministry by Saturday. Based on this report, the ministry is likely to sack Prof. Appa Rao Podile as vice-chancellor. Rao took over as VC only in September 2014 and if suspended he would become the VC with the shortest tenure at the UoH. His six-year term is set to end in 2020.

The committee is said to have felt that there is strong resentment against Prof. Appa Rao among dalit students ever since his tenure as chief warden in the campus between 2001 and 2004. Prof. Appa Rao’s tenure as chief warden was also mired in controversy as he faced similar allegations of discriminating against Dalit students in hostels and messes, which led to suspension of a few Dalit students and violent incidents on the campus then.

Meanwhile, Appa Rao, in the eye of a storm, has reiterated that he will not quit the post in UoH, and rejected allegations that he is a BJP man. “I am not a party person. I have been appointed through a normal selection process involving 190 candidates and selected on the basis of merit,” he asserted, dismissing the charge that he was a nominee of a Union minister.

“It is only a coincidence that the VC’s selection happened during NDA period. As the head of the university, people think I am responsible for the suicide of the research scholar. The case was ongoing even before I took charge,” he said.