PATNA: Chief minister
Nitish Kumar has been selected for the first Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Award for Probity in Public Life. He will be conferred the award at an official function of Jammu & Kashmir government to be held in Jammu on Monday.
Nitish left for New Delhi on Sunday from where he will fly for Jammu on Monday to receive the award. The CM will return Patna by Monday evening, a state government official told TOI on Sunday.
The award was constituted recently by the Jammu and Kashmir government to commemorate the death anniversary of PDP founder and two-time J&K chief minister Sayeed who died on January 7, 2016 after nearly a week-long hospitalization in New Delhi. Sayeed was father of J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra will preside over the event at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium in Jammu and also present the award to the Bihar CM.
Besides the award, the J&K government has also organised a 'Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Memorial Lecture' to be delivered by Indian-origin UK politician Lord Meghnad Desai.
Desai will talk on 'Devolving Power: The British Experience' at the auditorium. Desai's hour-long lecture will be followed by felicitation of Nitish Kumar with the Mufti Muhammad Sayeed Award for Probity in Public Life.
Nitish had closely worked with Sayeed in the VP Singh government at the Centre. Sayeed was then Union home minister, while Nitish was minister of state for agriculture.
"Nitish was selected for the prestigious award for his work and contributions in bringing probity in public life as well as his crusade against corruption in Bihar," a PDP functionary told reporters in Jammu on Sunday.
