WB governor for Bharat Ratna to Karan Singh

Kolkata, 13 Mar: West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan has favoured a Bharat Ratna for Congress MP Karan Singh.

"If there is one person who can get the country's highest award of Bharat Ratna, then he is none other than Dr Karan Singh. I hope that the men in power will recognise the value of someone like him and give him the highest honour," Narayanan, former National Security Advisor, said at a function organised by ICCR last night.

79-year-old Singh, a veteran politician, author and diplomat, was given the Padma Vibhushan in 2005, which is India's second highest civilian honour.

Describing him, who is also the president of The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), as the country's "spiritual ambassador", he said, "He has been doing good work and spreading the spiritual message since long."

When asked to comment on the demands to give the award to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, he refused to compare the two.

"I don't want to compare that who should get the award and who shouldn't. All I can say is that I prefer Karan Singh," he said.


(PTI)