Panaji: The controversy over the use of
Goa University campus for a political event featuring AICC
general secretary Rahul Gandhi deepened further with Goa
Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (GPYCC) refusing that they
had organised the event.
Hours after Goa Governor and University Chancellor S S
Siddhu asked for factual report from Vice-Chancellor Dilip
Deobagkar over the controversy, the Youth Congress held a
press conference to clarify that the function was held by the
University.
"It was a function organised by Goa University. We
were just helping them as Rahul Gandhi, who is a youth icon
and our party leader, was attending it," GPYCC president
Sankulp Amonkar told reporters here.
Gandhi’s interaction with students at Goa University
on Tuesday and subsequent meeting with Youth Congress
members in the varsity’s administrative building had kicked
off row in the state.
University Registrar Mohan Sangodkar had offered to
resign owning responsibility of allowing political function in
the campus.
Amonkar today said since it was difficult for the
University to organise the function within a short span of
four days, the Youth Congress members volunteered to help
them. "All the colleges were invited to interact with Gandhi
and one student from each college had lined up to welcome him
when he arrived at the venue," he said.
Stating that the Registrar should not quit because
the function was non-political, Amonkar said neither
Vice-Chancellor Dilip Deobagkar nor Registrar were present for
the event.
"They must be busy in some other meetings and that's
why they could not make it for the function," he said. The
GPYCC president even said that the entire expenditure of the
programme would be borne by the University.
GPYCC General Secretary Pratima Mendonca said the
University had formally issued circular asking the students to
attend the interaction programme.
The BJP had triggered the controversy after Gandhi's
visit.
Gandhi himself talking to media after the interaction
had said that he was in Goa to ask students to participate in
National Students Union of India (NSUI) elections.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, January 23, 2010, 23:03