Arjun, Manmohan

New Delhi, June 8: Education minister Arjun Singh has indicated his consent for a girls-only IIT named after Indira Gandhi, but wants Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's support for the project.

Sources said Arjun, scalded by recent public accusations of “sycophancy” towards the Nehru-Gandhi family, has decided to seek Manmohan Singh’s approval for the plan — proposed by President Pratibha Patil — to name an IIT after the late Prime Minister.

None of the seven existing Indian Institutes of Technology or the eight new ones in the pipeline is named after any personality. Nor is any restricted to women students.

The Telegraph had reported on March 11 the proposal from Patil to set up an IIT for girls in Amravati, her former Lok Sabha constituency.

Rashtrapati Bhavan had communicated the proposal to the human resource development ministry on March 7.

In an internal ministry note, Arjun has said an IIT named after Indira Gandhi and only for girls can be launched in Amravati, Maharashtra. The project, he added, could be launched during the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) itself, but only after clearance from the Prime Minister and the Planning Commission.

The plan panel’s approval is necessary to fund any new educational project.

A letter based on Arjun’s comments in the note has been sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan as well.

In April this year, Arjun was ticked off by Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natrajan after he reportedly indicated that the party might field Rahul Gandhi as its next prime ministerial candidate.

“The Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) and Rahul Gandhi have always kept away from sycophants,” Natrajan had said in a statement a day after Arjun’s comments.

In early May, after reportedly being snubbed by Sonia in private — the minister was called to her residence at 10 Janpath — and in public — at a book release function — Arjun had issued a statement pledging loyalty to the Gandhi-Nehru family.

“I shall do everything to maintain loyalty and commitment to the remaining members of the Gandhi family,” Arjun had said.

A source close to Arjun indicated that the minister was trying to walk a “tight line” in displaying loyalty while not appearing a sycophant.

“Ever since the controversy over the Rahul Gandhi comments, he appears keen not to give anyone an opportunity to attack him for either inadequate loyalty or of sycophancy towards the Nehru-Gandhi family,” the source said.

Patil, in her proposal, had said the girls-only IIT in Amravati would draw out both women and tribals from the drought-prone region into mainstream higher education.

The Meghalaya Assembly recently passed a resolution against the decision to name the latest Indian Institute of Management (IIM) — in Shillong — after Rajiv Gandhi. No other IIM is named after anyone.