Chennai: The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu on Saturday launched a campaign to obtain 50 lakh signatures in 50 days seeking to abolish the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

Chief Minister MK Stalin was the first to endorse the campaign, taken up by the party's youth, students, and medical wings, with his signature and casting a postal ballot.

His son and Youth Welfare and Sports Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, who launched the initiative at Kalaivanar Arangam here, said the DMK has been striving to abolish the screening test, which has been claiming the lives of innocent students.

Displaying an egg (muttai) that in local parlance refers to zero with the letters NEET inscribed on it, Udhayanidhi ridiculed the Centre for reducing the qualifying percentile for NEET-PG to zero.

"This showed that those who don't qualify for the NEET-PG can secure admission by paying money," he alleged.

He called upon the political parties, especially the opposition AIADMK to put up a joint crusade against NEET.

Responding sharply to the invite, AIADMK Organising Secretary D Jayakumar lashed out at the DMK for deceiving the people on the issue.

"Now, finally the DMK has let out its secret on how to abolish the NEET in the country," he said and added that so long as people remained gullible, the tricksters would take advantage of them.

He quoted a song from late Chief Minister M G Ramachandran's film, which means how long will these people cheat.

"The Chief Minister had said that he would abolish NEET by a single signature. Now the people, particularly the students, are wondering if the Chief Minister and his son have forgotten to put one signature to ban NEET," Mr Jayakumar said, ridiculing the signature campaign.

At least now the DMK should stop enacting political drama on the issue and apologise to the people for its inability, he said in a statement here. It should also give up playing with the lives of the students, the former state minister said.