HYDERABAD: Underlining the services rendered for the country, particularly for the uplift of downtrodden sections, by former Deputy Prime Minister and Dalit leader late Babu Jagjivan Ram, Textiles and Handlooms minister P Shankar Rao on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to honour the late leader with the country’s highest award - Bharat Ratna.
He also wanted the central government to consider names of cricket legends Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar for the award.
After paying floral tributes to the statue of Jagjivan Ram on his 104th birthday celebrations at Basheerbagh today morning, Shankar Rao, at a press conference in the Congress legislature party office here, asserted that it was long due that the late leader be honoured with the Bharat Ratna. A letter would be written to the President of India, Prime Minister, UPA chairperson and Union home minister in this regard, he said.
The ruling Congress party has been giving priority to the Dalit community for their upliftment and has even elected Jagjivan Ram’s daughter Meira Kumar as the Lok Sabha Speaker, he claimed.