Bengaluru, (DHNS): AICC general secretary incharge of Karnataka K C Venugopal, on Wednesday, sought an explanation from Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddi over a marks card 'scam' that he has been accused of abetting.

The party-backed National Students Union of India (NSUI), in a petition to Venugopal, has accused "the present minister" (Rayareddi) of allowing the Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL) to flout rules and "unduly favour" a Mumbai vendor for purchase and printing of marks cards and degree certificates.

Rayareddi held a closed-door meeting with officials on the purported scam on Wednesday and refused to comment when reporters approached him.

According to the student body, the 'scam' has made it difficult for students to get marks cards and certificates as the process being followed was resulting in faking of the documents.

BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje and JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy used the marks card 'scam' to attack the government. Karandlaje demanded Rayareddi's resignation.

Rayareddi is already in a spot, with a legislature committee probing irregularities in the procurement of laptops for students.

U-turn

NSUI, however, backtracked from its claim that Rayareddi was involved in the scam.

"If the minister had a 10% role to play in this, officials have 90%," NSUI Karnataka president Manjunatha H S said.

"We wanted to highlight the difficulty students are facing, since there are lots of fake certificates being generated. Officials and vice-chancellors of universities have colluded. It was done without the minister's knowledge," he said. Strangely, Manjunatha said the government was not involved in the decision to award the tender to MSIL for purchase of marks cards.