By IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday brushed aside the controversy over the Bharat Ratna, saying it was “too early” to decide on the issue.
Answering a query at a joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis here Friday evening, the prime minister said: “It is too early. There is time to decide on the issue.”
He was asked to react to a letter written by Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani asking for the Bharat Ratna to be conferred on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
After the letter was made public, a political controversy has broken out over India’s highest civilian award, with the Left parties demanding a Bharat Ratna for Marxist leader Jyoti Basu.
Earlier, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi noted, “Such matters are not decided through letters”.