The Congress has got an issue for Lok Sabha elections in the form of the Common Universities Act. The party says that the Act grabs the autonomy of the city-based Maharaja Sayajirao University.
After the announcement of Satyajit Gaekwad's name for the Lok Sabha seat from the city, Congress was in search of a sensitive issue which can become a poll issue and can brighten the winning chances of Gaekwad, who had lost to BJP nominee Jayaben Thakar by a narrow margin of about 6,000 votes.
Congress got the chance to make the Common Universities Act a poll issue when the universities vice-chancellors, including MS University, were sent a mail by AK Singh, vice-chancellor of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University to discuss about the issues of nominating a search committee member for selecting vice-chancellor for the university and discussing other issues including the Common University Act at today's meeting of the vice-chancellors in Ahmedabad.
According to Suresh Patel, city unit president for Congress, the Act is designed to grab the autonomy of M S University, which is the only world famous university located in the city.
MS University is the only English-medium university in the state where Maharshi Aurbindo, Ambedkar, famous writer Kanaiyalal Munshi, late Gujarat chief ministers- Jivraj Mehta and Chimanbhai Patel- and others had studied.
