Bhubaneswar: Intensifying calls for accountability over textbook errors, leader of opposition Naveen Patnaik on Monday joined BJD and Congress politicians in demanding the resignation of school and mass education minister Nityanand Gond.Drawing parallels with former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, Naveen said Gond should step down on moral grounds.“Education minister Nityanand Gond should resign. There are a large number of mistakes in school textbooks. He should follow the example of Dharmendra Pradhan and quit his post on moral grounds. The BJD has been demanding his resignation for the past three weeks,” Naveen said.The BJP hit back, accusing the previous BJD govt of being responsible for the crisis. BJP MLA Laxman Bag said the alleged lapses were rooted in decisions taken during Naveen’s tenure as chief minister.“People associated with the previous regime have conspired to defame the govt. The state leadership will take an appropriate call. Naveen babu only knows how to seek resignations. During the BJD govt, there were thousands of mistakes and problems across departments. How many ministers resigned then?” Bag asked.The controversy centres around more than 1,600 errors allegedly detected in textbooks for classes I to VIII. A crime branch probe is underway, while chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi had earlier alleged that a conspiracy may have been hatched to malign his govt.Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das, who has also been demanding Gond’s resignation, warned that the party would intensify protests if the minister continued in office.Gond on his part attended a grievance redressal meeting alongside CM Majhi in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
