Congress leader Deshpande eyes winning streak for record 9th time; says could be his last election
Haliyal (PTI): Veteran Congress leader R V Deshpande -- who is eying to create a record in Karnataka if he wins for the ninth time in the assembly poll this year -- said this could be his last election and noted he is not a man who will fight for the Chief Minister's post.
Among the Congress candidates in the state, Despande (76) is the senior most contesting for the ninth consecutive time. He also equals AICC President Mallikarjuna Kharge's record of winning the most number of assembly polls in the state.
Deshpande was originally not a Congressman. He switched over to Congress in 1999 from the Janata Parivar. Until then, he got elected to the assembly in four elections from the Janata Parivar.
In an interview to PTI, Deshpande said: "Kharge and I have won assembly elections eight times. If I win this time, it will be a record in the House. Nobody has won nine times."
Asked why he has been lying low and does not figure in the list of contenders for CM despite being the senior most, he said, "I am not lying low in a way because I am a very disciplined man. I am not in any race. ...there could be a desire for CM, but you should not fight for that."
He denied senior Congress leaders like Siddaramaih and D K Shivakumar were fighting it out for the CM's post, should the party win the May 10 Assembly polls.
"They have a desire. If I get an offer, I will have a desire. But I am the last man to fight for that."
Deshpande said he has worked with eight chief ministers from Ramkrishna Hegde till date. "I led padayatra against the mining mafia in Bellary. I have so many things to my credit," he said.
Moreover as per the Constitution, it is left to the legislative party and the high command to decide who should be the CM, he added.
Deshpande also mentioned, "most likely, this could be the last election (for him). If God and voters help, this could be a record... it is difficult to fit in the current politics as the political discourse has fallen very low."
Deshpande is contesting from the Haliyal assembly segment, where BJP has fielded Sunil Hegade, while S L Ghotnekar is contesting on a JD(S) ticket. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Gurudeep Singh Sandhu.
In a triangular fight in the Haliyal assembly segment that has 1.75 lakh voters, the dominant Marathi-speaking population will be a decisive factor. Gotekar -- a former MLC who defected from the Congress -- is a Maratha and it needs to be seen in which way the votes will shift. BJP is also trying hard to defeat Deshpande.
"Marathas have shown their secular credentials in all my elections. Earlier, there were Maratha candidates contesting from this constituency, I am confident that they will definitely vote for Congress and for the work I have done," Deshpande said.
The Congress will win with a reasonable margin, he added.
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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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