Stalin denies 'political animosity' over merger of Jaya and Annamalai varsities

The AIADMK on Thursday put forth a strong plea for the continuance of the university named after former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in Villupuram and said it should not be merged with Annamalai University due to 'political animosity'.

Intervening, Chief Minister MK Stalin said, “Had we started acting with political animosity, by this time, Amma Unavagams would have been discontinued. The decision to merge the university in Villupuram was taken only due to the reasons spelt out by the Higher Education Minister.” During the discussion on demands for grants for school education and higher education departments, former Higher Education Minister KP Anbazhagan said the government should allow the Dr J Jayalalithaa University in Villupuram established during the previous AIADMK regime.

Responding, Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi referred to a statement made during the tenure of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2012 that just by increasing the number of colleges and universities, the quality of education would not be improved. “The decision to merge the new university in Villupuram with the renowned Annamalai University is only with a view to providing quality education to students,” he said. The minister reiterated that there was no political motive behind this decision and pointed out that many other institutions named after Jayalalithaa continue to exist.

When Anbazhagan said there were hundreds of post graduate students in each university while only a PG extension centre was functioning at Villupuram, Ponmudi said the AIADMK government had announced a university in Villupuram just to name it after their leader and did not allocate any funds and lands for it. To this, Anbazhagan said just after the announcement of the university, the model code of conduct for the Assembly elections came into force and hence, other steps like allocation of land could not be done. Expressing disappointment over the replies, Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami led a walkout of his party MLAs condemning the minister's refusal to accept the AIADMK’s request to continue the functioning of the university named after J Jayalalithaa.