CHENNAI: Tiruvallur MP from Congress and former IAS officer S Sasikanth Senthil withdrew his indefinite hunger strike “temporarily” on Monday night. The MP began the protest on Friday to exert pressure on the union government to immediately release the pending dues of over 2,000 crore to TN for the school education department under the Samagra Shiksha scheme.
In a statement, Senthil said he decided to withdraw the hunger strike, heeding to the appeal of leaders from his party and the INDIA bloc, who urged him to give up the protest considering his health condition. “The struggle has given me the opportunity to bring the gravity of the issue to the attention of the people. This has now become a subject of public discussion and has garnered wide support,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, CM MK Stalin, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and a few other leaders appealed to Senthil to give up his strike, keeping his health in mind. In an interaction with TNIE, he had said that he started the hunger strike since one couldn’t wait longer for the centre to release the funds.