An all political party delegation led by DMK Parliamentarian T R Baalu called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital on Monday and urged him to take appropriate measures to ensure president’s assent to exempt Tamil Nadu from the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

The delegation, which also comprised the AIADMK, urged the Home Minister to direct the Tamil Nadu governor to forward the Tamil Nadu admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill 2021, seeking to exempt the medical and dental undergraduate courses aspirants from the State from NEET, immediately to the President for his consideration.

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The Minister should take necessary steps to obtain the president’s assent to the bill at the earliest and save the future of Tamil Nadu children. It urged the centre to uphold the spirit of cooperative federalism and oblige, the delegation, which also included parliamentarians, said the group of people including A Navaneethakrishnan (AIADMK), Vaiko (MDMK), D Ravikumar (VCK), Jayakumar (Congress), P R Natarajan (CPM) and legislators: G K Mani (PMK) and T Ramachandran (CPI). They submitted a memorandum containing the demands to Shah on the occasion.

The Tamil Nadu BJP had walked out of the all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister M K Stalin on January 8 in Chennai to discuss the pending Bill, saying NEET is not against social justice. Stalin, who earlier claimed NEET affected the dreams and aspirations of the rural and poor students in pursuing medical courses, had on January 12 appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “favourably consider” the State’s request for exemption from NEET for students’ admission to medical colleges.

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