Dissolution of KPCC will help bring in new leaders; state party chief Dinesh Gundu Rao
Bengaluru, June 19: All India Congress Committee's move to dissolve KPCC would pave the way for reorganization of the party at all levels, creating an opportunity for new leaders, state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said Wednesday.
"The AICC President has dissolved the present Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.
The intention is to reorganize the party at the state, district and block levels, which is important," Rao told reporters here.
Stating that he and Working President Eshwar Khandre would have to start working towards reorganizing and strengthening the party, he said they would hold discussions with legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal and other leaders on the way ahead.
"We will look for giving an opportunity to new leadership in the party. Those loyal to the party and honest workers will be identified and given an opportunity in the organization.
We have also started working towards appointing members to various boards and corporations and it will be finalized in a month," he said, adding that this would instill confidence among workers.
In a major move after the rout in the Lok Sabha polls, the AICC Wednesday said it has decided to dissolve the KPCC, while retaining its President and working President.
In its worst ever performance in Karnataka, the Congress had managed to win only one of the 21 seats it had contested.
Congress' ruling coalition partner- the JD(S) won one out of the seven seats it had contested.
BJP had swept the polls, bagging 25 out of the 28 seats.
According to sources, the move has come after the party's"disastrous" performance, despite having a mammoth number of office bearers, about 280 of them.
As most of the office bearers were old timers, the party is looking at giving an opportunity to fresh faces towards strengthening the organisation from the grass root level, sources added.
However, amid speculation that the KPCC President and Working President are also likely to be changed, the AICC has decided against it.
This reorganization would give an opportunity for Dinesh Gundu Rao to build his own team and work afresh towards organising the party, sources said, adding that it was a much needed one.
Some within the party believe that a change of KPCC President and Working President also cannot be ruled out in the days ahead.
Meanwhile, Minister D K Shivakumar, who was considered to be in the race for the KPCC President's post said no post is vacant now and he has not asked for any position.
"...party has decided (to dissolve) with an intention to make way for new faces and those who work in the interest of the party...
I don't know how it will be done (reorganization)," he told reporters in New Delhi.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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