Centre Denies Fresh Talks with Cockroach Janta Party Amid Protest Escalation

Union Ministers JP Nadda on Wednesday denied that he and his cabinet colleague Jitendra Singh had a fresh round of discussions with leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party as the outfit stood firm on their demand for Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. The CJP leaders had earlier said they would not go to Nadda’s office this time, claiming that they had waited for hours before the previous meeting. CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das said, “We are not going to anyone’s office… We could meet at a neutral place near Jantar Mantar.” Ruling party sources had told The Indian Express that there was a meeting between the ministers and the CJP leaders at a “neutral place” on Jantar Mantar Road, but no details were available about the discussions. However, when asked about Wednesday’s meeting, Nadda said, “ Aaj koi charcha nahi hua (There were no discussions today)”. As the protest escalated on Tuesday, the Centre signalled that it was open to further talks with the agitators. After Parliament showdown on Tuesday, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi along with several senior Congress leaders , including the Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge, started a sit-in outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence on Lok Kalyan Marg to demand the PM’s resignation over police action against protesters, the government rushed Union Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh to talk to Rahul. Nadda and Singh met Sonam Wangchuk at Medanta Hospital on Tuesday evening, government sources said. Wangchuk, who began his fast on June 28, was moved to the private hospital on Tuesday following a court order after his wife alleged he had been illegally detained after being forcibly shifted from Jantar Mantar by police on Saturday. What began as a small online movement of a few hundred people has grown into the sharpest youth-driven challenge to Modi’s government since 2014, with the NEET paper leak — which forced roughly 2 million students to resit the exam and has been linked to several suicides — feeding wider frustration among young Indians over job shortages and repeated exam irregularities.