Narendra Modi was not elected as prime minister of India due to his educational background and degrees but because of his good work, Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan said in Akola on Monday.
The educational qualifications of PM Modi are at the centre of the bitter political tussle spearheaded by the Aam Aadmi Party led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's whose Right to Information Act plea for a copy of the former's university degree was unsuccessful.
The Gujarat High Court had, on March 31, set aside a seven-year-old order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) asking the Gujarat University to provide information on Modi's degree to Kejriwal.
Allowing the Gujarat University's appeal against the CIC order, the Gujarat HC also imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Kejriwal, observing that the AAP chief's RTI plea appears to be more "politically vexatious and motivated" instead of being based on "sound public interest considerations".
"(Nationalist Congress Party chief) Sharad Pawar has taken a good stand on this issue. We should talk about farmers etc. Narendra Modi was not elected on the basis of his degree but on the basis of his good work," Mahajan told reporters.
Talking to reporters in Nashik on Sunday, Pawar had said the PM's degree was not a national issue.
"When there are more pressing issues like unemployment, inflation and law and order situation, should anyone’s educational degree be a political issue in the country," Pawar had questioned.
Mahajan, who was in Akola to review the situation after seven persons were killed and more than 35 injured due to the tin shed of a temple collapsing on Sunday night, also brushed aside queries on statements made by Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut.
No one pays much attention to what Raut, a key aide of Uddhav Thackeray and strident critic of the Eknath Shinde government and the Bharatiya Janata Party, says, Mahajan claimed.
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