KL News Network

Srinagar

The union government Wednesday announced Padma awards for 89 people from different walks of life on the eve of January 26 functions. But it is learnt that one name was dropped from the list at the last minute — that of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian Express quoting sources as having said.

Sayeed, who led the first PDP-BJP coalition in the state and passed away in January 2016, was also a former union home minister.

An official said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to several awardees before their names were finalised and the list was made public.

In Mufti’s case, the family was “not very keen”, the official said. A PDP leader also confirmed that there was a move to include Sayeed in the Padma list, Indian Express reported.

“His name was being considered along with names of Sundar Lal Patwa, former Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh who passed away in December 2016, and P A Sangma, former Lok Sabha Speaker,” an official said.

Sayeed, who took charge as Chief Minister of J&K for the second time in March 2015 after entering into an unlikely alliance with the BJP, passed away at the AIIMS in New Delhi on January 7, 2016. Daughter Mehbooba Mufti, his political heir and chief of the PDP, became the first woman chief minister of the state.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here