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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday asserted that his party was opposed to 'saffronisation' of education in the country.
Addressing a media conference in Hyderabad, Naidu said: "We want world-class scientific and modern education."
He pointed out that the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre had already denied that there was any move at saffronisation of education.
The Telugu Desam Party chief, whose party is a key supporter of the ruling BJP-led NDA, said that his party and government were the first to oppose the move to make singing of Saraswati vandana (ode to invoke blessing of goddess Saraswati) compulsory in schools a couple of years ago.
The then higher education minister K Pratibha Bharathi had voiced the TDP's opposition at the education ministers' conference in Delhi, he pointed out.
Asked why he skipped the non-BJP chief ministers' meeting convened on Sunday in Delhi by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya to discuss the issue, Naidu initially claimed that he did not have an invitation.
However, later he said that his West Bengal counterpart called him up. "We did not go to the meeting because we are giving conditional support from outside to the NDA government," he explained.
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