No Politics over Vajpayee's Nomination for Bharat Ratn: Prasad
Patna: January 12, 2008
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, at a press conference in Patna on Saturday said that the Congress Party was playing politics concerning the nomination of the senior party leader and former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the coveted Bharat Ratn award.
"The Congress should not reduce the Bharat Ratn award to a contest. Everyone knows that no one is more qualified for this award than the former Prime Minister who not only took the nation out of the economic trouble at the time but also played a vital role in the nation's fight for independence during the Quit India movement," Prasad said.
Expressing his frustration over the opposition to Vajpayee's nomination by some UPA leaders, the BJP leader further said that it was during the Prime Minister P. Narsimha Rao, a Congress leader, when Vajpayee was honored with the Padmvibhushan award.
Prasad, on the dwindling power situation in Bihar, sided with the Nitish government saying the Center continued to act in a step-motherly manner when it came to issues concerning development in the state.
Taking a dig at the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the BJP leader said that Yadav, despite being a Central Minister, continued to behave like a Bihar minister. "He may be a part of the UPA Cabinet, he is far from becoming a national leader," Prasad said.
The former Union Minister also hinted at the return of the AIADMK chief Jayalalitha back into the NDA fold saying the NDA's remarkable victory in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls had forced many politicians, who have been frustrated with the current UPA government, to give a second look at the NDA.
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