Pune: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has given a call for a protest rally in the city on Friday as the ongoing dissent at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi intensifies.The organisers said the rally was being organised to express solidarity with the agitators staging a protest in the national capital demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The CJP volunteers from Pune said the rally between 3pm and 7pm on Friday would start from Shaniwarwada and conclude at the Pune collectorate.“We have sought permission for the rally from the Pune police commissioner. He has given us a positive response,” said Rushikesh Kanvate, one of the organisers of the rally.While the support for the ongoing protest at Jantar Mantar is swelling, the agitation is now percolating in other cities. The CJP volunteers appealed to students’ organisations to participate in Friday’s rally in the city to support the protesters’ demand.“The rally is also being organised to protest the police violence against the agitators in Delhi earlier this week. We want to send out a message through this rally that the youth are unfazed by the police action and we will continue to press for our demand until they are accepted by the govt,” Rushikesh said.The opposition parties have extended support to the CJP’s rally in Pune. Pune city East president of Congress Prashant Jagtap said, “The govt is showing arrogance by resorting to violence against the students of the country instead of holding a dialogue with them and asking its minister to step down. Therefore, we are supporting the CJP’s demands.”
