Bengaluru | Congress general secretary K C Venugopal on Friday intensified the party's attack on the Centre over the alleged NEET paper leak, demanding the dismissal of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "remaining silent" on the concerns of agitating students.

Addressing a press conference here, the Congress MP alleged that the Union government had failed to address the crisis and was avoiding a discussion on the issue in Parliament, while reiterating the party's support for the ongoing student agitation.

"The Prime Minister is silent. Why doesn't he call the students who are agitating and solve this issue? Within a second, he can solve it. Why doesn't he remove his own Education Minister, who made this mess?" Venugopal asked.

He said the Congress was demanding that Pradhan be removed from the Education Ministry, an inquiry be ordered into the alleged police action against protesting students, criminal cases against students be withdrawn and compensation be paid to the families of those who lost their lives during the NEET-related agitation.

"Our demand is very clear: Dharmendra Pradhan has to be sacked from the Education Ministry. An inquiry has to be conducted into the police atrocities against students. Cases filed against students have to be withdrawn. And compensation has to be given to the families of those who lost their lives during this entire NEET-CPC experience," he said.

Venugopal also criticised the Centre for allegedly refusing to allow a discussion on the issue in Parliament.

He said on Monday itself, when Parliament started, the opposition members gave an adjournment motion to discuss the CBSE-NEET issue, the lathi-charge on students and the election issue.

"Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has the right to speak in the House. This government is completely scared of discussions. They are scared of facing parliamentarians," he alleged.

Referring to remarks attributed to the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on paper leaks, Venugopal said such statements amounted to an admission that future leaks could occur.

"A cabinet minister (Sitharaman) is saying, 'Paper leakage will help students.' What does that mean? You are taking complete responsibility for the paper leaks. This is what the students of India are believing today," he said.

Accusing the Prime Minister of "failing" to respond to public concerns, Venugopal alleged that the government was resorting to "drama" instead of resolving the issue and asserted that the Centre had remained "totally insensitive" to the demands raised by students and the opposition.