Ranchi, Feb. 21: Congress legislator Niel Tirkey today ended his nine-day-long hunger strike before his party’s general secretary Ajay Maken could formally offer him juice.

Formalities for discharging Tirkey from the hospital had been completed and his belongings during his stay in the hospital were packed in two suitcases and sent home much before Maken had even stepped into the hospital. Tirkey himself was also in a hurry to catch a service flight to Delhi.

The Congress chief whip in the Assembly had began an indefinite hunger strike in Simdega on February 12 demanding the dismissal of rural development minister Anosh Ekka — his arch rival — from the state cabinet.

Today, Maken came to the state capital to formally draw the curtains on the high voltage drama.

He landed here by a service flight in the afternoon, where he was received his party workers led by state Congress president Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu.

He drove straight to the RIMS, where Tirkey and the latter’s two associates Dayal Singh and Ram Narayan Singh Rohilla were waiting.

“By following the Gandhian path, they have proved themselves as true Congress workers. The party stands firmly by them. I have apprised the party high command of their feelings,” said Maken.