NEET row: ‘DMK is responsible’ says Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai over suicide by aspirants

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 23 (ANI): Urging Tamil Nadu police to take action over student suicides in the state in connection with National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) results, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai on Wednesday accused DMK of being responsible for the incidents. 
"DMK is playing politics over NEET. Till now, 18 students have committed suicide over NEET. It is purely DMK that is responsible. That is why I've urged that Tamil Nadu police should invoke abetment to suicide sections against MK Stalin and Udhayanidhi Stalin and book an FIR against them,” Annamalai told ANI. 
Referring to DMK’s state-wide hunger strike demanding the abolition of the NEET exam and the State Governor’s refusal to do the same, Annamalai said, “No common man participated in the protest because the whole of Tamil Nadu is accepting NEET." 
Earlier, TN deputy opposition leader RB Udhayakumar lashed out at the ruling DMK government over their protest staged against the NEET examination claiming that NEET was introduced in Tamil Nadu by the Congress-DMK-led Government. 
"DMK brought the NEET exam under Congress rule and their hypocrisy is exposed. The people of Tamil Nadu will not believe this" Udhayakumar said. 
The AIADMK also accused the state government of indulging in petty politics claiming that the state had refused to provide adequate security for the AIADMK state conference in Madurai. 
DMK's student wing and the medical wing conducted a one-day state-wide hunger strike demanding the abolition of the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) in Chennai on Sunday which was also attended by State Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin. 
The state-wide demonstration was held against state Governor RN Ravi over his refusal to ban the NEET examination in the state and the Central government. 
However, CM Stalin earlier on August 14 assured that NEET can be done away with amid the rising number of cases of suicides by students. 
CM Stalin also urged the students to avoid suicidal thoughts. 
"Have confidence, do not have suicidal thoughts. Do not think of losing your life in any situation. Definitely, we can remove NEET which proves to be an obstacle to your goals. The Tamil Nadu government is working vigorously towards that," CM said in a statement. (ANI)