Girri ends strike at Rajnath’s call, dares CM for a debate

NEW DELHI: Nearly 48 hours after he began a hunger strike against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, BJP MP Maheish Girri ended his protest after Union Home Minister Rajnath

NEW DELHI: Nearly 48 hours after he began a hunger strike against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, BJP MP Maheish Girri ended his protest after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh met him and requested him to end the fast.

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Girri had been protesting outside the chief minister’s residence after Kejriwal pointed to his alleged involvement in the murder of NDMC law officer MM Khan.

Girri had challenged Kejriwal for an open debate on the matter. After ending his strike, Girri again tweeted: “Hello ArvindKejriwal, I will come for a debate by end of day tomorrow. Your Time. Your Place. Your People. PS: pls do bring all the proofs”.

Rajnath told Girri the police had not found anything against him and so he should not be disturbed.

“We should thank Maheish Girri for his fight against the chief minister who has become a symbol of falsehood and forgery. This hunger strike will be the beginning of the end of the empire of falsehood of Kejriwal,” said Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay.

Ahead of Rajnath Singh’s visit, AAP leader Ashish Khetan tweeted: “This will be the first time that an HM (Home Minister) instead of ordering the questioning of a murder suspect will be felicitating him.”

Union minister Harsh Vardhan had also visited Girri on Monday evening.

Girri demanded the resignation of Kejriwal after he was named in the FIR filed by the anticorruption branch in the alleged Rs 400 crore water tanker scam.

Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta also demanded the CM’s resignation. “Kejriwal must answer why did he sit on the report for 11 months? What was the deal between the three tanker companies and the CM for suppressing the report? How much payment was made to the companies after the AAP government came to power and how much loss was caused to the government exchequer,” said Gupta.

Earlier in the day, Girri performed yoga at the agitation venue to mark the second International Yoga Day. “On IDY2016 today, participated in a Yoga Session with all karyakartas, here at the venue of my Anshan,” Girri tweeted.