Scandals seem to have started stalking the Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa. First, it was female foeticide, followed by widespread trade in fake medicines. Now, a marksheet scandal involving the state school and mass education minister has rocked the government, forcin g the minister to resign.
Announcing his resignation, Patnaik told reporters on Friday that ?…I have accepted the letter and forwarded it to the governor”, according to PTI.
Bijaya Shankar Das, son of the state school and mass education minister, Bishnu Charan Das, surprised everybody when his name was among the toppers in the Orissa Board of Secondary Examinations (BSE). Since he was always a dull student, reportedly even his father was surprised.
Soon enough, skeletons started tumbling out of the cupboard when BSE president DK Mishra blew the whistle by ordering an inquiry into the matter. Mishra was immediately removed from his post. What, however, made the scam murkier was the attempt by the minister to cover it up.
The minister, who resigned on?moral grounds?, claimed he had no role to play in the preparation of his son’s marksheet. “Rather”, he said, “I asked my son to go for a re-check of the marks as I was surprised”.
Chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy, who inquired into the matter, submitted his report to Patnaik on Friday.
“I have verified the original answer paper, the mark foil as well as the computer sheet where marks of Das’s son were enlisted. There was difference of marks both in the answer sheet and the mark foil,” he told the media, according to a PTI report.
Unfortunately for the minister, it was the BSE employees who went against the him and the senior officials and “exposed the cover up” by giving details of the scam to the media.
The scandal has now taken political colour. Patnaik, seeking to steer clear of another controversy, has been quick to move before the issue heats up further. But the Congress and student bodies are in no mood to give in.
Once again, Patnaik?s image has taken a beating .In fact, Das told reporters that he decided “to resign on moral grounds and keeping in view the image of chief minister Naveen Patnaik and the Biju Janata Dal”.