The crucial meeting between representatives of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and Union ministers was held at the Vithalbhai Patel House here on Friday. With the resignation of the education minister termed "non-negotiable," all eyes are now on whether Dharmendra Pradhan will be forced to step down.
CJP spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka attended the meeting with Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda and Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh.
Saurav Das, after the meeting with the government delegation, said they had told the ministers that, "our demand for resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan is non-negotiable."
The Centre has sought time till Saturday afternoon over the resignation demand, said Das.
"We hope the government will remove him soon," said Ranka.
He also added that the government has expressed in-principle approval on the two demands of compensation: (withdrawal of FIRs, legal cases on students and compensation for the families of NEET aspirants who died by suicide).
This is CJP's second round of talks with the Centre.
"The meeting went on for almost two hours. They had three main demands and five reform suggestions for exams. We have told them that we will meet them again tomorrow afternoon and tell them about the discussion we had with the government," said Nadda.
The Union ministers will brief Home Minister Amit Shah on the developments before responding to the CJP's demands.
The crucial meeting came after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike late on Thursday night following government assurances on his key demands.
Ahead of the meeting, CJP's founder Abhijeet Dipke too stressed that they will continue with the protests till the resignation of the education minister over the NEET paper leak.
Also, amid ongoing protests over the NEET paper leaks issue, the central government is planning to further tighten the existing laws against paper leaks and cheating.
The government is also planning amendments to the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
NDTV cited sources saying that jail terms and monetary penalties for those involved in paper leaks are likely to be increased.
