Nitish first recipient of J&K award for integrity
PATNA:Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday became the first recipient of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Award for Probity in Public Life that was conferred on him by Jammu and Kashmir governor N N Vohra.
The award has been instituted by the J&K government to acknowledge integrity in public life and honour a political personality of the country every year to commemorate the death anniversary of PDP founder and two-time CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who passed away on January 7, 2016.
The governor, who was flanked by J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti, Indian-origin UK politician Lord Meghnad Desai and Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, presented an award — a shawl and traditional fur cap — to Kumar at an official function held at Jammu University’s General Zorawar Singh Auditorium.
Speaking on the occasion, Kumar thanked his J&K counterpart and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Trust for conferring award. “It is a moment of happiness for me and Bihar. My focus is on development, peace and providing corruption free and transparent governance,” he said while acknowledging his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi’s contribution in doing so.
Praising the PDP founder, Kumar invoked Mufti’s famous words “no solution will come from confrontation” saying that disputes can be resolved through talks only.
The award comes at a time when Nitish, also the JD(U) national president, had taken everyone by surprise by calling off the pre-poll Grand Alliance with Congress and RJD in July last year.
Kumar had cited his inability to defend party’s stand on zero tolerance on corruption, as the reason, after Lalu Prasad son and former deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav failed to come up with a credible public explanation in the land-for-hotels scam.