CHENNAI: Sparks flew in the Assembly on Monday as Chief Minister MK Stalin and Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami clashed over NEET and the alliance between the principal opposition party and the BJP.

While Stalin dared Palaniswami whether the latter was ready to place abolition of NEET as a condition for continuing ties with the BJP, the LoP charged that the DMK came to power in 2021 by giving a false promise of abolishing NEET.

Intervening in the discussion on the demands for grants for the health department, Transport Minister SS Sivasankar charged that the union government gifted 11 medical colleges to Tamil Nadu during the previous AIADMK regime in reciprocation for the latter’s ‘betrayal’ over NEET.

AIADMK MLAs objected to this strongly, and Palaniswami alleged that it was the Congress-led UPA government, in which DMK was present, that introduced NEET.

Sivasankar responded that when DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and even late AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa were chief ministers, NEET did not enter Tamil Nadu and it did only during Palaniswami’s regime.

Palaniswami hit back saying it was the wife of a senior Congress leader who appeared in Supreme Court for her clients demanding the continuance of NEET and got a ruling in favour.

At this juncture, Stalin intervened and asked Palaniswami, “Now, there is a good opportunity before you to resolve this. Do you have the guts to tell (the BJP) that you would continue in the alliance only if NEET is abolished?”

Evading a direct response, Palaniswami said NEET continued due to Supreme Court’s verdict. “Can we go against the verdict of the apex court?” he asked.

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