BJP wants to poach MLAs, backed Chandra for RS polls sans numbers: Rajasthan CM Gehlot
Udaipur(PTI): Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot once again on Wednesday accused the BJP of the horse trading attempt ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls and asked why the party backed media baron Subhash Chandra's candidature when it lacked numbers to win the seat.
He alleged that Chandra filed his papers as the opposition BJP's intention is to poach legislators of other parties ahead of the June 10 elections to four seats of the Rajya Sabha from the state.
Gehlot's statement has come a day after Chandra claimed that eight MLAs of the ruling Congress in the state may vote for him and asked former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot to cross sides.
The Congress is set to win two seats while the BJP is assured of one. Both parties need the support of Independent legislators and MLAs of other parties to win one more seat.
Days after the Congress shifted its MLAs to an Udaipur hotel fearing horse trading, Gehlot said the party and its MLAs are united, and all three Congress candidates will win in the Rajya Sabha elections.
"We have the support of 126 MLAs for three seats," he said referring to the support of legislators of other parties and Independents.
Questioning the BJP's support to Chandra, Gehlot said, "The intention of indulging in horse trading has been there from the beginning."
They backed the independent candidate even though they do not have the numbers to secure the seat, he said.
"Our MLAs are united and we are proud of the fact that earlier also when a political crisis came, the MLAs were united," he said apparently referring to a rebellion against him by party leader Sachin Pilot two years ago.
On the BJP writing to the Enforcement Directorate and the Election Commission alleging horse trading, Gehlot said, "The elections are there on the day after tomorrow and they are writing letters now. Actually, their conspiracy did not succeed. They are furious because they are failing in horse trading."
The Congress with its 108 MLAs in the 200-member state Assembly is set to win two seats. After winning the two spots, it will have 26 surplus votes, 15 short of the required 41 to win the third seat.
Congress leaders claim the support of 126 MLAs, including 108 from the party itself. The party needs 123 MLAs to win three seats.
The BJP has 71 MLAs in the state Assembly, enough to get one seat comfortably. After that, it will have 30 surplus votes, which along with three of the RLP are set to go to Subhash Chandra.
He will need eight more votes to win the seat.
To protect their MLAs from being lured by the rival parties, the Congress had shifted them to a hotel in Udaipur on June 2. The BJP has also shifted its MLAs to a resort on the outskirts of Jaipur in the name of a training camp.
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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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