Balayogi to keep away from convocation

HYDERABAD, DEC 6: Upset over the controversy surrounding the offer of an honorary doctorate to him by the Sri Venkateswara University, Lo...

HYDERABAD, DEC 6: Upset over the controversy surrounding the offer of an honorary doctorate to him by the Sri Venkateswara University, Lok Sabha speaker G M C Balayogi has decided to stay away from the 40th convocation of the university at Tirupati on December 12.

Balayogi initially wanted to attend the convocation though he would be busy in connection with the conference of parliamentarians in Male, he is learnt to have changed his mind once the controversy arose. His inability to attend the convocation was conveyed to the varsity authorities by his staff.

Besides Balayogi, others chosen for honorary doctorates are: Planning Commission deputy chairman Jaswant Singh, Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Y Venugopal Reddy, Rajya Sabha member and actress Jayaparada, linguistic professor Bhadriraju Krishnamurthy, architect Laurie Baker, Sanskrit scholar Bhutapuri Subramanya Sharma, cancer specialist Dr Shanta and film director Raghavendra Rao.

Student unions on the campus mainly protested over the choiceof Balayogi, Jayaprada and Raghavendra Rao on the ground that they were associated with the ruling Telugu Desam Party. The first two were ruling party members, while Raghavendra Rao was the visual media advisor to the State government.

Irked over the controversy, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed displeasure over the selection of university authorities. Taking a cue from it, Raghavendra Rao sent a fax to the varsity politely rejecting the honour.However, Jayaprada is understood to have expressed her desire to be present at the convocation to receive the honour.

Expressing concern over the entire row, university vice-chancellor Kolakuluri Enoch told The Indian Express that the varsity was treating Balayogi8217;s silence as 8220;a sign of rejection8221; of the doctorate. As per the rules, consent of an awardee is necessary for conferring honorary doctorate.

8220;I do not know why all this is happening and it is unfortunate names of so many persons not at all connected with the convocation are being draggedin,8221; he said.

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8220;Balayogi did not say so far that he was rejecting the doctorate, but he also did not give his consent. So we are taking it as a sign of rejection,8221; he said. 8220;But even if he sends a copy of his address, we will have it read out by someone at the convocation,8221; Enoch said optimistically.

However, he justified the executive council8217;s decision to honour as many as nine persons with doctorates. 8220;In the past too, the SV University conferred honorary doctorates on nine persons and film personalities like Mohan Babu and D Rama Naidu were selected for the honour,8221; he explained.

Even if Jaswant Singh could not attend the convocation, the university would confer the honorary doctorate on him in absentia, the vice-chancellor said.