Bengaluru, Nov 9 (IANS): Karnataka's senior BJP leader D.H. Shankaramurthy urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bestow Bharat Ratna on party patriarch L.K. Advani, who celebrated his 92nd birthday in New Delhi on Sunday.
"As you are aware, Advani has been in public life for over 7 decades. His service, sacrifice and contribution to the country through the RSS, Bharatiya Janata Sangh and the BJP has been phenomenal," said Shankaramurthy, a former Legislative Council Chairman and minister in a letter to Modi recently, but released to media on Sunday to coincide with Advani's birthday.
"Impeccably clean and honest in his personal and public life, a leader with utmost credibility and a man with abundant knowledge and experience on national and international affairs, Advani is a rare phenomenon in public life," he added.
Asserting that his appeal was also on behalf of hundreds of party cadres from the state, Shanakaramurthy said it was his fortune to have been in close contact with Advani over the last five decades.
"I had the privilege of translating Advani's public speeches in Kannada and travelled with him across the state and country over the years," he added.