Party pulls up minister, NSUI leader on marks card scam

AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal on Thursday took Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddi and NSUI state president Manjunatha H S to task for "washing dirty linen in public" and damaging the party's image over the purported marks card scam.

Venugopal summoned Rayareddi for an explanation on the NSUI's claim of irregularities in the procurement of marks cards. Rayareddi was pulled up for saying the Higher Education department had no role in the procurement of marks cards. "How can anything happen without the knowledge of your department," Venugopal is learnt to have asked the minister.

Manjunatha also got a dressing down for going to the media with details of irregularities in the procurement of marks cards. "It was a petition you gave me. Why did you give it to the media," Venugopal is said to have asked the student leader.

Venugopal has advised Rayareddi to sort out issues pertaining to the procurement of marks cards within two days "before it gets too late and the party's image takes a hit ahead of the polls."