Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

Nitish first recipient of J&K award for integrity

- Anil Kumar anil1.kumar@hindustant­imes.com ▪

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.

 ?? NITIN KANOTRA /HT ?? ▪ Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar being presented ‘Mufti Mohd Sayeed Probity in Politics & Public Life’ award by governor NN Vohra in Jammu on Monday.
NITIN KANOTRA /HT ▪ Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar being presented ‘Mufti Mohd Sayeed Probity in Politics & Public Life’ award by governor NN Vohra in Jammu on Monday.

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