Seat-sharing talks between JD(S) and BJP in final stages: Ex-PM Deve Gowda
Bengaluru, Mar 4: Former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Monday said seat-sharing talks between his party and the BJP were in the final stages and the entire process will probably be completed within a week.
Speaking to reporters at the party office, he said his son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had already held talks with BJP leaders about seat sharing.
"Seat-sharing talks between JD(S) and the BJP are in the final stages. The seat allotment will be decided in a week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and Kumaraswamy will discuss which constituencies will be allotted for the JD(S) party," Gowda said.
On the question of Kumaraswamy contesting the Lok Sabha elections, he said it will be decided at the meeting with BJP leaders.
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The former Prime Minister said the party will give its opinion when the BJP will seek for some constituencies.
"We follow 'Maitri Dharma.' We will work together with the BJP to win all the constituencies," Gowda said.
Regarding his involvement in the elections, the JD(S) supremo said a decision will be taken after the notification (of the polls).
"Modi is very fast. He is touring several states in 10 days but I will go wherever I am called," the 90-year-old leader said.
On the contentious Mandya Lok Sabha seat from where independent MP Sumalatha Ambareesh is aspiring for a ticket from the BJP, the former Prime Minister said Mandya is being discussed unnecessarily in the media.
"The party is strong in Mandya. Party organisation is good. A meeting will be held in Mandya as soon as possible," Gowda said.
The JD(S) considers Mandya its citadel as it has always helped it get a good number of seats.
In September, 2023, the Janata Dal (Secular) became part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance after a meeting between Kumaraswamy, his son Nikhil, Nadda and Amit Shah.
Gowda's party had won only one seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the Modi wave swept through the state as the BJP claimed 25 out of the 28 seats.
The 2023 Assembly elections dealt another blow to the JD(S) as its tally dropped to 19 seats from 37 in 2018 Assembly polls.
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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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