“The NDA will complete its 25th anniversary by 2024,” said Dharmendra Pradhan. (File)
Bhubaneswar:
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said the BJP-led NDA will secure over 350 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and return to power at the Center under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Pradhan also claimed that the BJP would form the government in Odisha next year, but he refused to reveal who would be the face of the party here.
“The NDA will complete its 25th anniversary by 2024 and secure over 350 seats in the Lok Sabha polls,” Pradhan said at an interactive session of the Odisha Literary Festival.
Asked about the Odisha Assembly elections next year, he said the “BJP will form the government” in the state.
He said the saffron party had won elections in states like Maharashtra, Haryana and other places without making any announcement about the party’s chief ministerial candidate before the elections.
“Here (Odisha) too, we will win the polls in the same way,” Pradhan said, adding that he did not want to reveal more about the BJP’s strategies on the public platform.
Replying to another question, Union Education Minister Mr. Pradhan said there is nothing wrong in inviting foreign universities to India.
“Our ten million students are going abroad to study,” he said, adding that there should be no hesitation in inviting foreign universities to India.
“The UGC will soon introduce the regulatory policy for foreign universities. It is in the works. We have no problem in bringing in foreign universities. We want to bring the best universities in the world to India on our terms,” he said.
Pradhan said Indian institutes are also going abroad to set up their campuses.
For example, he said, IIT Chennai has opened its branch in Tanzania in Africa and IIT, Delhi is going to Abu Dhabi in UAE.
“We should not deprive Indian students of global technological knowledge. There should be no discrimination when it comes to acquiring knowledge,” Mr. Pradhan added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
