Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Wednesday responded to Republican Party of India (A) leader Ramdas Athawale‘s offer to join his party.

In a post shared on Instagram, Dipke responded to Athawale’s offer: “Par abhi ek mahine Pehle toh me anti-national tha tumhare liye? (Wasn’t I an anti-national for you a month ago).”

Dipke’s response comes after Athawale, a Union Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s cabinet, offered the CJP convenor to consider joining his party. Athawale’s Republican Party of India is part of the NDA at the Centre.

Abhijeet Dipke reacted to Ramdas Athawale’s offer on Instagram

Speaking at an event in Maharashtra, Athawale said Dipke should consider joining his party to fulfil Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s dream and to help strengthen society and the party.

“I think Abhijeet Dipke is an Ambedkarite. He is active and young. He should consider joining Republic Party of India,” Athawale reportedly said in Marathi.

The minister further said that the government believes that those who do wrong should be punished.

Abhijeet Dipke campaigns in Maharashtra

Abhijeet Dipke is in Maharashtra, his home state, where he launched a campaign to improve government schools last week. His campaign, ‘School Thik Karo’, focuses on improving the educational infrastructure, more funds for developing schools, and improving quality of mid-day meals across government schools in the country.

Kitchen of a Govt school in the year 2026 👏👏👏👏👏👏#SchoolThikKaro pic.twitter.com/qNHnV1JK5y

— Abhijeet Dipke (@abhijeet_dipke) August 18, 2026

Last month, Dipke led a successful protest at Jantar Mantar, which led to Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as Education Minister.

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The CJP leader has ruled out entering electoral politics, saying that people have lost faith in politics and the election system.

When recently asked about speculation that he was preparing to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Hingoli seat, the CJP leader said, “If the government repairs all government schools, there will be no issue left for Abhijeet Dipke to contest Lok Sabha elections on.”

He added that some people did not want government schools to improve, because if the children of the poor studied well, it would not help the next generation of today’s leaders win elections.