Conjoined twins Veena and Vani defied all odds to clear Class 12 board exams in first class and they now want to become chartered accountants.

While Veena scored 712, Vani got 707 in the Intermediate Public Examination (IPE) conducted by the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE).

The 18-year-olds aspire to become chartered accountants. They expressed their aspiration before Education Minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy and Minister for Women and Child Welfare Satyavathi Rathod when they called on the twins on Wednesday to congratulate them on their success.

The ministers assured Veena and Vani all support for their higher studies.

"I am so proud of Vani and Veena. God has a special place in his heart for special children like you. I wish you the very best," Sabitha Indra Reddy tweeted after meeting the twins.

The conjoined twins had also done well in Class 10 board exams. Veena scored a 9.3 GPA while Vani got a 9.2 GPA.

In the Intermediate exams held last month, the twins had told the authorities that they don't want any special privileges. They also refused to avail themselves of the extra time offered to them.

This was despite the Covid-19 pandemic affecting their studies.

Satyavathi said the twins excelled in the exams though the classes were conducted for only five months.

Veena and Vani were born to a poor couple in Telangana's Warangal district on October 15, 2003. The couple, both daily wage laborers, abandoned the girls saying they have no resources to take care of them.

Since then, the state government has been taking care of the two. Doctors could not separate the twins as they shared critical blood vessels.

Initially raised in a government-run hospital, they were later shifted to Shishu Vihar, the child care center run by the Department of Women and Child Welfare. (AA/IANS)