SRINAGAR: Congress leader and former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar yelled at Republic TV reporter saying he won’t talk to “anti-national channels.”
When reporters from Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV Aditya Raj Kaul and Prema Sridevi barged into a restaurant where Aiyar had gone to have lunch, they repeated questions him over his meeting with the Hurriyet leaders which he refused to answer.
“I already told you four times, I don’t talk to anti-national channels like The Republic. Now just get outtta here!,” Ayiar told the reporter.
Mani Shankar Aiyar refuses to answer questions on his meeting with Hurriyat leaders — lashes out at Republic TV #CongressForHurriyat pic.twitter.com/zDKKzXznAb
— Republic (@republic) May 25, 2017
In an effort to resume dialogue with the stakeholders in Kashmir, a five-member delegation led by Aiyar on Thursday called on Hurriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Shabir Ahmad Shah and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to discuss the prevailing situation in the Valley and the necessary steps to be initiated for bringing peace in Kashmir, which has been marred by violent protests since July 2016.
The senior Congress leader meeting the Hurriyat leaders is not surprising, for even veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L. K. Advani and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also met them.