CM vows fight will continue till Dharmendra Pradhan is sacked over NEET leak
Hyderabad/Kodangal:* Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy escalated his party’s campaign against the Centre on Wednesday, leading a rally and dharna in his home constituency of Kodangal to protest the detention of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in Delhi a day earlier, and to renew demands for the sacking of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak controversy.
Marching from his residence to Ambedkar Junction with party workers and Congress flags, Reddy told the gathering that question papers had been “sold for crores of rupees” in BJP-ruled states, and accused the Centre of shielding those responsible. He demanded Pradhan’s dismissal from the Union Cabinet and called for the arrest of those behind the alleged leak.
The Chief Minister alleged that Rahul Gandhi sustained a nose injury during police action in Delhi on Tuesday, when Congress leaders were detained while demonstrating outside the Prime Minister’s residence in solidarity with protesting students. He described the police response as disproportionate, claiming “hundreds” of protesters were injured and some students went missing afterward — allegations that have not been independently verified.
Reddy framed the standoff in explicitly political terms, invoking Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s constitutional guarantee of the right to protest and accusing the BJP of undermining it. He also renewed a long-standing charge linking a company associated with BRS leader K.T. Rama Rao — Globarena — to alleged irregularities in Telangana’s 2019 intermediate exam results, claiming the firm later secured contracts through BJP connections after rebranding.
Invoking the Congress party’s historical legacy, Reddy said the party’s history of enduring “lathi charges” under British rule made the current crackdown unsurprising, and praised the Gandhi family’s record of political sacrifice — citing Sonia Gandhi’s decision to decline the Prime Minister’s post and ministerial positions despite years in power.
The Chief Minister closed with a direct call to oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi from office and install Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as his successor, declaring the party’s agitation would continue “until Dharmendra Pradhan is removed from the union cabinet.”
