Will deliver Wharton speech while fasting: Kejriwal

Aam Aadmi Party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal will deliver a keynote address via video conferencing at the Wharton India Business Summit, CNN-IBN reported. While there was speculation about Kejriwal being Modi’s replacement, the activist denied it saying, " As per my information, I am not replacing anyone. The invitation to me was an independent one. " On 4 March, Wharton dropped Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from its list of keynote speakers after a section of students and professors protested over having Modi as a speaker. [caption id=“attachment_648111” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal[/caption] The forum had announced late last month that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would be among its keynote speakers for the 23 March event. In a strongly worded letter, students protesting against Modi said: “This is the same politician who was refused a diplomatic visa by the United States State Department on March 18, 2005 on the ground that he, as Chief Minister, did nothing to prevent a series of orchestrated riots that targeted Muslims in Gujarat.” On Monday, an official statement from the Wharton India Economic Forum stated that Modi had been dropped from the list of keynote speakers. “As it stands currently, Mr. Modi’s keynote address at Wharton India Economic Forum has been cancelled.” On 23 March, the day he is supposed to address the Wharton forum, Kejriwal will begin his indefinite hunger strike against the hike in water and power tariff in the national capital. Kejriwal told Firstpost that he will deliver the speech from one of the house where he will be staying during his fast. “I think the speech will last for 15- 20 minutes”, he said.