BENGALURU: A political slugfest has erupted between the Congress and the BJP over the SSLC examination results and the state of education in Kalaburagi district.
Social Welfare Minister HC Mahadevappa slammed the BJP leaders for criticising IT-BT and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge over the district’s SSLC performance.
Kalaburagi, which ranks among the lowest-performing districts in the state, falls under Kharge’s charge as district in-charge minister.
Defending Kharge in a post on social media platform ‘X’, Mahadevappa said the BJP leaders should note that Kalaburagi has recorded an 85 per cent SSLC pass rate, not 20 per cent as being portrayed. “Educational development is a continuous process, and it is unfortunate that the BJP has stooped to using children’s education for political purposes,” he stated.
Hitting back, the BJP leaders accused Mahadevappa of defending AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge’s son to safeguard his ministerial position. In a post on its official ‘X’ handle, BJP Karnataka said that instead of engaging in ‘social media posturing,’ the Congress government should address key issues in the education sector.
The BJP also shared a speech by Mallikarjun Kharge highlighting the need for teacher recruitment in Kalaburagi. Referring to this, the party alleged that the district’s performance has been affected by a large number of unfilled teacher vacancies in the Kalyana Karnataka region. The BJP accused the Kharge family of decades of misrule, claiming that Kalaburagi has lagged behind not only in education but also in per capita income, development indicators, nutrition levels, and access to pre-school education.
The opposition urged the state government to focus on addressing these developmental gaps instead of engaging in political exchanges on social media. The BJP had tweeted tagging Priyank Kharge on Thursday after the SSLC results were declared.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.