Student protesters, camping at Delhi's Jantar Mantar under the banner of the CJP, have maintained that the agitation will continue until the 57-year-old minister steps down.

'Government stands with the minister'

According to senior government sources, the Centre believes resigning would be the easiest option but not the right one.

"Resignation is the easiest decision to take," a government source said, adding, "The government stands with the Minister."

The source stressed that the government intends to fix systemic problems rather than make symbolic changes.

"People have given us the mandate, and we will deliver," the source told NDTV.

"The government is preparing a list of problems in the National Testing Agency, and these issues will be resolved soon. We have busted many gangs involved in paper leaks. More actions are in the pipeline," the source added.

CJP sticks to resignation demand

The government's position comes even as the CJP remained firm after the second round of talks with the Centre on Friday.

The discussions, held at the Constitution Club of India, were attended by Union Health Minister JP Nadda and Minister of State for the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh on behalf of the government. The CJP delegation included national spokesperson Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka.

Following the meeting, the CJP said the Centre had sought time until Saturday afternoon to respond to its demand for Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation.

"The government has asked for time till tomorrow afternoon on our demand for Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. We hope the government will remove him soon," Ashutosh Ranka said.

He added that the government had, in principle, agreed to two other demands — compensation for the families of NEET aspirants who died by suicide and withdrawal of FIRs and legal cases against students involved in the protests.

Centre's outreach to protesters

The CJP had agreed to hold talks after the Centre reportedly accepted two preconditions: that peaceful protesters would not face legal action and that families affected by the examination controversy would receive compensation.

Ahead of the meeting, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke reiterated that there could be no resolution without the Education Minister's resignation.

"If the government wants a solution to the protest, it is only the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan," he said.

The negotiations came hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike, saying he had done so after prolonged discussions with the government and to prevent possible violence.

Pradhan continues official engagements

Even as the political storm intensified, Dharmendra Pradhan continued with his official engagements and social media outreach.

On X, the minister paid tribute to a freedom fighter and a senior journalist, wished people on the occasion of Bahuda Yatra, and reshared Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message announcing stricter action against paper leaks.

He also posted about discussions with Members of Parliament from Odisha regarding special assistance for children with learning disabilities.

Earlier this week, the minister addressed a two-day conference of state education ministers despite calls from the Opposition and protesters for his resignation.

Government reshuffles education ministry

In another apparent effort to address concerns surrounding the education system, the Centre has shifted Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and appointed new officials to lead both the higher education and school education departments.

The Ministry of Education has been under intense scrutiny following the NEET paper leak controversy and allegations of irregularities in the CBSE board examination evaluation process.

The NEET examination, one of India's largest entrance tests with more than two million candidates annually, was cancelled in May after allegations that the question paper had been leaked.

A fresh examination was conducted on June 21, while the government has since announced a broader overhaul of the National Testing Agency to strengthen the examination system and prevent future leaks.