BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra has given a clarification after social media ridiculed his claims of securing an All India 19 rank in the Union Civil Services Examination in 2000.
Participating in an Aaj Tak conclave, Patra had said, “We are not fighting a cock and bull fight…you asked me about my qualifications. I thought let me tell you why I became the Chairman of ITDC. Before me Shankarsinh Vaghela (of Congress) was its president. I deserve more than him. I have done MBBS, MS. I have done MRCS from London. After that I cleared UPSC and got all India 19th rank.”
Patra later said that he had secured an All India 19 rank in the UPSC exam in 2000.
Congress’s Kanhaiya Kumar had questioned his eligibility to be appointed as the chairman of the Tourism Development Corporation of India.
His claim of clearing the UPSC exam did not go down well with the netizens. They accused the BJP spokesperson of lying. Many said that they have checked the records of UPSC results of 2000 and Patra’s name is missing from the list.
After being ridiculed on social media, Patra clarified on Twitter that he did not mean the Civil Services Exam conducted by UPSC. Instead, he said, he was referring to the Combined Medical Services Examination, also known as the CMS. He tweeted, “Apart from CSE ..UPSC conducts CMS exams as well ..I thought the “so called”educated knew this ..but it appears a few are oblivious to the fact!”
The proceedings of a conclave organized by Hindi TV channel Aaj Tak faced unusual interruption when BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra repeatedly urged the channel’s owner Arun Puri and his daughter Kalli Puri to come to their rescue as the Congress Spokesperson Kanhaiya Kumar is stopping him from speaking repeatedly by lashing out at him for allegedly making false statements.