On the eve of Republic Day, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh lashed out at fellow party colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad for accepting Padma Bhushan and at the same time, he appreciated the decision not to accept the award by former Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
As for Ramesh's tweet regarding Bhattacharya's refusal to accept the award, he commented: "It's the right thing to do. He wants to be Azad, not Ghulam."
His comment was indirectly directed towards his party colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was recently awarded the Padma Bhushan for his public service.
Previously, Azad served as the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. He was one of the first leaders in the Congress to call for a general election.
The government of India presented the Padma Bhushan award to Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, former chief minister of West Bengal. He refused to accept it.
Bhattacharya received the award for his contribution to public affairs. He said, "I did not know anything about the award; nobody told me about it. If I were awarded the award, I would reject it."
The statement was confirmed minutes later by CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri.
In recent years, Bhattacharya, who suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), has been spending most of his time at home.
In the last six months, the veteran leader was hospitalised twice. He failed to campaign in Bengal's Assembly poll last year.