CHENNAI: VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan on Friday (July 24) announced that the party would stage protests in all 234 Assembly constituencies across the State on July 27, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the abolition of NEET nationwide.

Speaking to reporters at Chennai airport after returning from New Delhi, Thirumavalavan said Parliament had remained paralysed for the past five days over the alleged NEET question paper leak, which had affected lakhs of students, saying that Pradhan's sacking was a matter of time.

He alleged that Delhi Police used excessive force against students, youth and civil society members protesting in the national capital for over a month, seeking Pradhan's resignation. While the Centre had held talks with the protesters on Friday and sought two more days to respond, it had agreed to withdraw cases registered against them, he claimed.

Reiterating that the VCK opposed NEET across India and not just in Tamil Nadu, Thirumavalavan urged the protesters to expand their demand beyond Pradhan's resignation and press for the complete abolition of the examination.

Expressing confidence that the agitation would succeed, he said he believed the Narendra Modi-led Union government would remove Pradhan from office. He added that he would participate in the VCK's Chennai protest on July 27.