"When I took over, officials of my ministry asked me, what my agenda was. I clearly told them that my agenda does not have politicians as stakeholders, it has only students and their parents."
Asked about her frequent meetings with RSS leaders, Irani quipped: "If you go through my entire schedule, you will find that I have also met leaders from the Congress and the Left, even Left-supported unions in my office."
Citing two instances, Irani disclosed how a Congress MP from Karnataka, whose name she did not reveal, came to her and requested that a Kendriya Vidyalaya be set up in his constituency.
"The Congress was ruling for the last 10 years, but I provided the solution within an hour. If I had sat on his request only because he belonged to the Congress, the fate of children would have been affected.
"Similarly, in Uri, north Kashmir, I got a request that the Kendriya Vidyalaya there had classes only till 10, and for studying in classes 11 and 12, they had to go to Srinagar. I gave sanction for classes 11 and 12 within 3 hours, and classes 11 have already began in this year's academic session itself. I could have easily delayed that and waited to score brownie points before the elections", said Irani.