State education minister Vinod Tawde on Wednesday refuted all the allegations levelled against him by the opposition. Mr Tawde said that certain sections were hurt after he tried to discipline the department and they are using the opposition to carry out a propaganda against him. The opposition has demanded Mr Tawde's resignation over charges of corruption.
The opposition parties had on Tuesday demanded that Mr Tawde should be removed from the cabinet because of charges of corruption against him. Dhananjay Munde, leader of opposition in state Legislature Council demanded the resignation of Mr Tawde and said the education department has purchased photographs of national heroes like Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Phule at '1,395 per photo, while the same photos were available at the cost of '15 per photo in the government’s own printing press. Leader of opposition in the legislative assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil also demanded the resignation of Mr Tawde.Speaking in the Assembly on the last day of the Winter Session, Mr Tawde said, “The allegations made by the opposition are completely fabricated and it is a conspiracy to defame me.”
The minister blamed the lobby of educationists for carrying out a propaganda campaign against him. He also hinted at the connections between the Congress-NCP and educational institutes. Some of the leaders of Congress and NCP own quite a few educational institutes.
“After I took charge of the education department, I took decisions to protect rights of children and their parents. I also brought fee regulation act after which educational institutes cannot decide fees arbitrarily. ...Because I tried to regulate educational institutes, directors of some of these institutes are using the opposition parties to target me,” he saidMr Tawde further said that the allegation of corruption in purchasing photos of national heroes is completely baseless. He argued that the money paid for a photo includes cost of the photograph, lamination cost, photo frame, transportation cost, carpentry and taxes.
