Piyush Goyal cites Congress-era agreements with EdTech firm criticised by Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday questioned Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for omitting the fact that the same education technology firm that the Congress leader is criticising was earlier “repeatedly awarded projects by institutions functioning under Congress governments in Telangana and Karnataka”.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) earlier dismissed LoP Rahul Gandhi’s impropriety charges over entering into a contract with the EdTech company, Coempt Edu Tech.
“Rahul Gandhi suffers from chronic political amnesia. He has done it again … chosen propaganda over facts, theatrics over truth!” Goyal posted on the social media platform X on Thursday.
“The same COEMPT EDUTECK PVT. LTD. that Rahul Gandhi is today calling ‘controversial’ was repeatedly awarded projects by institutions functioning under Congress governments in Telangana and Karnataka,” the minister charged.
He said Karnataka’s Bengaluru City University had apparently signed an agreement with the company in November 2025, while Telangana’s Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences did so in September 2024.
Similarly, agreements were also signed by Adikavi Sri Maharshi Valmiki University, Raichur, in March 2024, and Karnataka University, Dharwad, in June 2023, according to Goyal.
He claimed that the Telangana State Health University has publicly appreciated the company on its official website.
Goyal went on to ask LoP Rahul Gandhi whether, if he considered the company tainted, he would accuse the Congress Chief Ministers of Telangana and Karnataka of collusion and demand their resignations.
Or, he added, whether the Congress governments in these states inked agreements “blindfolded”, or if LoP Rahul Gandhi’s “outrage, as always, is selective, scripted, and meant only for headlines against the Modi government?”
A political diatribe has arisen over irregularities alleged in the digital evaluation system used by the CBSE for NEET and other examinations.
It started with a student, Vedant Shrivastava, whose discrepancies in marks and in the transparency of evaluation raised questions about the integrity of the process.
Vedant applied for a photocopy of his Physics answer sheet on May 19 after receiving what he thought were unexpectedly low marks.
Four days later, he posted on X that the sheet CBSE emailed him did not match his handwriting and was clearly another student’s.
On Monday, the Board rectified its earlier mistake of sharing a different answer sheet for the evaluation review requested by Vedant and provided the correct one.
The LoP claimed “massive tampering” in CBSE exam results and, calling it a “deliberate conspiracy”, raised questions over its contract with Coempt Edu Teck, which he mentioned was involved in a similar faux pas in Telangana in 2019 under the name Globarena.
Responding to LoP Rahul Gandhi’s earlier Thursday criticism of alleged discrepancies in the CBSE examination process, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accused the Congress leader of opposing every reform initiative undertaken by the government.
“CBSE has already issued its clarification and fulfilled its responsibilities. The process was carried out in accordance with the Government of India’s procurement policy. If any negligence is found, we will take strict action,” he said.
“As far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned, he appears to be in a different mindset due to continuous electoral losses, which have led to frustration. He has opposed everything, including the SIR process, EVMs, and Digital India. He is not aligned with India’s scientific and technological progress,” Pradhan added.
The minister also appealed to political parties not to politicise issues concerning students.
The LoP retaliated by repeating his charges against X.
“Dharmendra Pradhan ji, you can attack me all you want, but it won’t absolve you of your crimes. Nor will it stop me from demanding answers for 18.5 lakh children,” he wrote.
Seeking to know who decided the CBSE-Coempt contract, he tried to link the issue with the Union government, holding the minister responsible and seeking his dismissal.
–IANS
jb/dan
