Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], December 21 (ANI): AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday criticized the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu over the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) issue. He asked what steps the DMK had taken to ban NEET in the state?Palaniswami accused DMK MPs of remaining silent on the issue in Parliament.

"DMK said that the NEET ban will be implemented in Tamil Nadu. What steps DMK has taken so far on the issue? Why DMK MPs are sitting silent at the Parliament," Palaniswami said in a press conference here.

In June, this year, the State Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against the NEET, urging the Centre to scrap NEET and allow state governments to undertake medical admissions based on class 12 marks, as was done before NEET's implementation.

Barring BJP, the major political parties in the state are against NEET.

Palaniswami also slammed the DMK over the tungsten mining issue. He said that no DMK MP has raised their voice in the Parliament against tungsten mining in the state.

"Not even a single DMK MP has raised their voice against the tungsten mining at the Parliament. The central government has said that only after the State government's approval, the mining will be done. I have asked many times about the tungsten mining issue at the TN Assembly but the DMK government failed to take steps on it," he said.

Earlier this month, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a unanimous resolution condemning the Centre's decision to grant tungsten mining rights in the Madurai district of the State.

The Ministry of Mines recently announced it had granted tungsten mining rights to Hindustan Zinc Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, through an auction on November 7.

Chief Minister MK Stalin had said that as long as he is the Chief Minister of the state he will not allow tungsten mining at Melur in Madurai district.

"The DMK government will not allow tungsten mining in Madurai. I clearly say that as long as I am the Chief Minister, Tungsten Mineral Mine in Nayakkarpatti Village, Melur Taluk, Madurai District will not be allowed," Stalin said. (ANI)