Karan Singh ‘distressed at unseemly controversy over well-deserved’ Padma award to Azad

Srinagar, Jan 27: Former J&K Sadr-e-Riyasat and veteran Congress leader, Karan Singh on Thursday said he was “distressed at the unseemly controversy over the well deserved Padma Award to my good friend Ghulam Nabi Azad”.

Azad, a former J&K chief minister and veteran Congressman was conferred the Padma award on the eve of Republic Day.

With former West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharhee rejecting the Padma award, senior Congress leader and former union minister, Jairam Ramesh used the occasion to target Azad through a cryptic jibe.

“Right thing to do. He wants to be Azad not Ghulam, ” Ramesh wrote on Twitter in a cryptic reference to Azad, who has already been alienated from the party for some time now.

Reacting to the acerbic reactions to the Padma award to Azad, former Sadr-e-Riyasat Karan Singh said in a statement: “I am distressed at the unseemly controversy over the well deserved Padma Award to my good friend Ghulam Nabi Azad. These National Awards should not become a subject of inter-party controversy, far less of intra-party ones”.

Singh said he had “known Ghulam Nabi for half a century since he first started his political career as an active participant in my second election campaign for the Lok Sabha in 1971 from the Udhampur constituency, to which he belongs”.

“Since then I have seen him rise through sheer dint of hard work, dedication and administrative ability to becoming a Cabinet Minister, both with Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao and Dr. Manmohan Singh. As Leader of the

Opposition in the Rajya Sabha for seven years he played a positive and constructive role in our Parliamentary system. Earlier he became the first Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir from the Jammu region, and his short stint is still remembered positively in both regions. If one of our colleagues is honoured he should be greeted with warm appreciation rather than snide remarks”.