India, July 23 -- Amid widespread calls for the resignation of union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, multiple reports have surfaced, claiming that the BJP leader once protested against a paper leak in Odisha.

As per a report published by The New Indian Express, Pradhan's former associates recalled a 1997 protest outside the Odisha secretariat over an alleged paper leak. Track LIVE updates on CJP protest

The associate, identified as Dr Prasant Kumar Rout, Principal of RMD Degree College, Bhubaneswar, first spoke to TNIE after Pradhan assumed charge as the education minister in 2021.

Rout, who was Pradhan's junior in college, stated that the protest happened around the time he was going to join the BJP. Pradhan was already serving...