NDA will secure more than 350 seats in 2024 polls: Pradhan

Bhubaneswar: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said the BJP-led NDA will secure more than 350 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and return to power at the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Pradhan also asserted that the BJP would form the government in Odisha next year but he refused to divulge who would be the party’s face here. “The NDA will complete its 25th anniversary in 2024 and it will secure more than 350 seats in the Lok Sabha polls,” Pradhan said at an interactive session of the Odisha Literary Festival.

Asked about the Odisha Assembly elections due next year, he said the ''BJP will form the government'' in the State. He said the BJP had won elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and other places without making any announcement on the party's chief ministerial candidate before the polls.

“Here (Odisha) also, we will win polls in the same manner,” Pradhan said, adding that he would not divulge more on the BJP’s strategies on the public platform.

Replying to another question, Pradhan said there is nothing wrong in inviting foreign universities to India. ''Our 10 lakh students go abroad to study,'' he said, adding that there should not be any hesitation in inviting foreign universities to India.

“The UGC will soon bring the foreign university regulation policy. It is in the process. We have no complexities in bringing foreign universities. We want to bring the best of world universities to India on our terms and conditions,'' he said. Pradhan said Indian institutes also go abroad to set up their campus. For instance, he said, IIT Chennai has opened its branch in Tanzania in Africa and IIT, Delhi is going to Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

“We should not deprive Indian students of global technological knowledge. There should be no discrimination when it comes to acquiring knowledge,” Pradhan said.