Govt reaches out to CJP amid raging protest; JP Nadda holds talks with 2-member team

NEW DELHI: A two-member delegation of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Monday met Union Health Minister JP Nadda, who initiated the dialogue on behalf of the government as protesters led by the outfit stormed into central Delhi and tried to march to Parliament.

The CJP said Nadda has assured them that he would hold internal talks and has requested some time to align with the government leadership on the CJP's demands, including the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities.

Official sources confirmed that the CJP representatives met Nadda, who initiated the government outreach towards the protesters.They said talks within the government on the CJP protest were underway and there is a possibility of the government issuing a formal statement.

CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das said he, along with CJP's national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka, met the health minister at his residence for about 10 minutes.

"After waiting for more than 2 hours, @AshutoshRanka and I just met J.P. Nadda ji at his residence for 10 minutes. While we submitted a written letter with our demands, he has assured us that he will meanwhile speak internally. We are in that process. There is news of mass detention etc," Das said in a post on 'X'.

This comes as thousands of protesters gathered near Parliament Street here and tried to march towards Parliament to demand accountability over alleged examination irregularities and the resignation of Education Minister Pradhan, braving baton-charge by security personnel.

Ranka said Nadda has requested some time to align with their leadership on the CJP's "following demands: Immediate release of Sonam Wangchuk, Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation, 1Cr compensation for all NEET aspirants who committed suicide".

Ranka said it was only late Sunday night that the Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, reached out for opening a communication channel with the government.

He said there were more serious discussions only from 6 am on Monday, and only at around 11:45 am, there was "an alignment on meeting Nadda ji".

"We finally met Nadda ji 10 mins ago and he is checking with the leadership internally wrt our demands. @DelhiPolice should immediately stop using brute force on peaceful protestors," Ranka wrote on 'X' at 2:48 PM Protesters participating in the Cockroach Janta Party's Parliament march on Monday refused to disperse despite heavy police barricading, lathicharge and use of tear gas, and raised slogans demanding the resignation of Pradhan.

The march, which witnessed participation of students and people from across Delhi, was stopped near Parliament Street, where police had put up multiple layers of barricades.

Many protesters said they had anticipated resistance but were determined to continue their demonstration.