Amid the raging controversy over the appointment of vice-chancellors of state universities, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday extended his support to Governor CV Ananda Bose and said he has the authority to appoint vice-chancellors for state-run universities.

Pradhan said the state government should concentrate on its role and ensure that incidents like ragging at Jadavpur University campus are not repeated.

"In other states, the governor appoints vice-chancellors of state universities. In West Bengal, the governor is well within his rights to appoint VCs. Instead of attacking the governor, the state government should concentrate on making campuses safe and ensuring that incidents like the death of a student in Jadavpur University are not repeated," he said.

The Union minister was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the party's organisational meeting here.

The remarks by Pradhan come in the wake of a confrontation between the state government and Raj Bhavan over the appointment of officiating VCs in eight state universities and the decision to come up with names of eight others.

Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had launched a scathing attack on Bose, accusing him of violating norms and threatening to impose an economic blockade on universities.

Besides Banerjee, state Education Minister Bratya Basu and former VCs close to the ruling Trinamul Congress have blamed Bose for violating rules and acting unilaterally, bypassing the higher education department to proceed with the appointments.

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