Former Minister S. Suresh Kumar on Wednesday said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will soon take a clear decision on the row over revision of textbooks.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, Mr. Suresh Kumar, who earlier held the Primary and Secondary Education portfolio, said he had asked writer Rohit Chakrathirtha even before he came to head the textbook revision committee to list out the mistakes in the textbooks after a seer drew his attention to the “hatred” against one community by another in Class VI textbooks.
As Mr. Chakrathirtha had also written articles on the issue, Mr. Suresh Kumar said he had asked him to list out all the mistakes. “Later, he went on the become the chairperson of the committee”, said Mr. Suresh Kumar.
As there was consensus that children should not be taught “hatred”, Mr Chakrathirtha was given the responsibility to list out the mistakes in the textbooks.
However, he said he was not aware of the report submitted by Mr. Chakrathirtha as the head of the committee. But, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will take a clear decision on the issue soon, he added.
Mr. Suresh Kumar was in Mysuru to campaign for BJP candidate M.V. Ravishankar in the ensuing elections to the Legislative Council from South Graduates constituency.
To another question, he said the BJP leadership was confident of winning the third Rajya Sabha seat from Karnataka and hence the party had fielded its candidate.
He said the party was stronger than the other Opposition parties. “We have enough votes even after winning two seats. So, the party has fielded a third candidate”, he said before adding that the confusion prevailed only among the Congress and JD(S) leaders over the issue.
