Minister says he resigns in the interest of party

Bhubaneswar, Aug 17 (UNI) Orissa School and Mass Education Minister Bishnu Charan Das, who resigned from his post today, said he decided to step down as he did not want the image of his government and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik be tarnished in the wake of allegation of ''tampering'' of HSc examination marks of his son.

Immediately after submitting his resignation, Mr Das told newspersons at his official residence here that he was dragged into a controversy over the alleged tampering of the marks of his son, and Opposition political parties took the matter to the street by organising protest demonstration in various colleges across the state.

Asked why he did not wait for the report of State Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy, who had been directed by the Chief Minister to probe the incident, a visibly upset Mr Das said he did not want to put his leader and the Chief Minister into any further embarrassment as the issue had been blown up into a political controversy.

To a question, Mr Das said the Chief Minister had not asked for his resignation, it was he who decided to step down owning moral responsibility keeping the prestige and dignity of the Chief Minister.

On the probe, conducted by the Chief Secretary, the Minister said whether he was involved or not in the ''tampering'' of marks of his son would be submitted by the Chief Secretary.

He said he would welcome whatever steps the Chief Minister would take on the basis of the findings of the Chief Secretary on the incident.

UNI