Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan attacked the Congress today, Saturday, June 29, claiming that it wishes to avoid a debate about the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in Parliament.

His statement was made the day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi encouraged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have a "respectful" and productive debate in Parliament over the purported irregularities in how the NEET exam was administered, reports PTI.

Replying to a question from the press on the opposition targeting the BJP-led Centre over the NEET exam issue, Pradhan said, "The Congress does not want a discussion. It wants to run away from the discussion. Its only intention is to create chaos, and confusion and create obstacles in the smooth functioning of the entire institutional mechanism."

He said that during her speech in Parliament, the President had also addressed the NEET exam issue, which the Congress had brought up.

He went on to say that the opposition had an opportunity to bring up this matter during the motion of gratitude to the President's speech and that the administration was prepared for any kind of conversation.

"But the Congress wants to play politics over the matter. It is not the time to play politics," Pradhan told reporters after the first session of the Haryana BJP's extended state executive meeting in Panchkula.

To recall, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, who are the Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, respectively, alleged that their microphones were cut off when they tried to discuss the NEET issue in Parliament yesterday, June 28.