Fake degree row: Fadnavis comes to Tawde's rescue

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday defended state education minister Vinod Tawde, saying the latter had made it very clear that he had done his B.E. from Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth.

"Vinod Tawde's matter is being brought up without any reason. He has not said anything wrong in the affidavit. He has made it very clear that he did his B.E. from Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth,"

"People of Maharashtra know that Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth is a different type of Vidyapeeth. It is true that Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth was closed in 2005. But Tawde ji was in Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth from 1980 to 1984," he added.

The Maharashtra Congress protested against Tawde yesterday and demanded his resignation following a row over his alleged fake engineering degree.

According to reports, Tawde had earlier clarified that he was a student of Pune's Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth from 1980 to 1984 and the course was then not recognised by the government.