New Delhi: Before Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Education Minister, the Centre had initially proposed transferring him to another ministry in an attempt to end the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) agitation, according to sources.

The proposal was reportedly conveyed during negotiations between Union Ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh and CJP representatives Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka.

The first round of talks took place on 20 July at Nadda's residence, even as police launched a major crackdown on protesters during the Parliament march called by the CJP.

According to sources, the ministers suggested shifting Pradhan from the Education Ministry to another portfolio as a possible compromise. However, the proposal was rejected by the CJP leadership, which maintained that nothing short of his resignation from the Union Cabinet would satisfy the protesters.

The CJP had made Dharmendra Pradhan's removal from the government one of its key demands during the 37-day protest over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination.

Sources said the Union ministers informed the CJP negotiators that appointing or reshuffling ministers was the sole prerogative of the Prime Minister.

Despite the discussions, the CJP refused to dilute its stand, insisting that only Pradhan's resignation would bring the agitation to an end. According to sources, the party's negotiators also believed that accepting anything less would provoke a strong backlash from protesters.

Pradhan eventually resigned on Saturday afternoon, just hours before the third round of negotiations between the Centre and the CJP. Following his resignation, the organisation announced that it was calling off its protest.

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had also argued that merely changing Pradhan's portfolio would not address the concerns of students or the Opposition.

"Dharmendra Pradhan is a symbol of the mess in the education system. He must go," Gandhi had said.

In his resignation letter, Pradhan said he had stepped down to prevent what he described as anti-national forces from exploiting the nationwide agitation over examination paper leaks.

"So that anti-national forces do not take advantage of the situation that has arisen at Jantar Mantar and across the country, so that the unity of the country remains intact, so that the future of not a single student of India gets entangled in legal complexities, and so that our children invest their time in studying and focus on building their careers — considering all these aspects, I have submitted my resignation to the Honourable Prime Minister," he wrote in a two-page note in Hindi shared on social media.

ALSO READ | Long before NEET, Dharmendra Pradhan was on the streets over another paper leak