Bhubaneswar: Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Wednesday pitched for conferring Bharat Ratna on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and former CM of Odisha Naveen Patnaik.
“..Today’s children have not seen Lalu’s jungle raj. Nitish Kumar has worked for the development of the state. Naveen Patnaik has also served Odisha for years. Such people should be honoured with awards like Bharat Ratna,” he told reporters.
Singh, who is widely perceived as a detractor of Kumar in Bihar’s political circles, further asserted that the NDA was looking forward to contesting the upcoming assembly polls under the JD(U) supremo’s leadership.
This has come amid Naveen-led Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) repeated appeal to award the country’s highest civilian honour to former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik. The most recent being in February when the Centre announced Bharat Ratna for Karpoori Thakur, LK Advani, MS Swaminathan, Choudhury Charan Singh and PV Narasimha Rao.
