

Pune, 24th July 2026: The police crackdown on students during the Jantar Mantar protest in Delhi echoed in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) General Body meeting on Friday, where opposition corporators staged a protest inside the House.
Corporators from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) attended the meeting wearing black bands. They raised slogans demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and criticised the Central government over the incident.
The protesting members also urged corporators from the BJP-led Mahayuti and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP to join their demonstration. However, they chose not to participate.
BJP corporators responded with counter slogans, accusing the Congress of using students for political purposes. This led to a brief exchange of slogans between the ruling and opposition benches, creating a tense atmosphere in the House.
The verbal confrontation lasted only for a short period before the situation returned to normal. Once order was restored, the General Body meeting resumed its scheduled proceedings without further disruption.