Cockroach Janata Party chief thanks Mamata Banerjee but will not join INDIA bloc rally in Delhi

Abhijit Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), met Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in Delhi. At the meeting on Saturday (31 October), he thanked Mamata for supporting the youth movement.

Dipke also expressed solidarity with the opposition INDIA bloc's rally on Sunday against alleged ‘vote theft’. However, he made clear that the CJP would not take part in the programme at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, in order to preserve its independent identity.

After the meeting, Abhijit Dipke said he had come to thank Mamata Banerjee for standing by their first protest at Jantar Mantar over the NEET question-paper leak, and for supporting them after Delhi Police arrested CJP leaders Sourav Das and Ashutosh Ranka.

Dipke said: “I have come to thank Didi. She gave strong support to our first protest at Jantar Mantar and stood firmly beside the youth movement. Didi was also with us when Sourav and Ashutosh were arrested by Delhi Police.”

Asked about joining Sunday's rally, he said: “We support the subject of Sunday's protest and have full solidarity with it. But the Cockroach Janata Party is an independent organisation and a neutral platform. We want to maintain that identity.” He added that the CJP would stand by every organisation fighting electoral irregularities, saying it would support whoever fights vote theft, whatever their political identity.

Mamata Banerjee is in Delhi to join Sunday's INDIA bloc rally. After Saturday's meeting with Dipke, she praised the CJP's young activists and their role in the movement against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list and against the Election Commission.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Mamata said: “They have expressed full support for Sunday's programme, and we too have given them all kinds of support. I am proud of them. They are the pioneers and founders of this movement, and we must remember that.” She praised the young activists for continuing the movement despite adversity, and invited Dipke and other CJP workers to hold programmes in West Bengal. Asked whether there would be a programme in Kolkata, she said that was entirely their own decision.

The opposition INDIA bloc is preparing a massive rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, alleging electoral irregularities and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Opposition leaders and supporters from various states have begun arriving in the capital for the event.