Paying rich tributes to Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on his second death anniversary, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the PDP-founder always believed in peaceful resolution of issues rather than acrimony or discord.
Delivering his speech of acceptance after receiving the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed award on 'Probity in Politics and Public Life' here today, Kumar said the leader had a firm belief that issues confronting a system can be resolved only through dialogue and negotiations.
The Bihar chief minister said Sayeed always gave a new direction to the position he occupied.
Narrating his long association with the late leader from the times of Jan Morcha, Janta Dal and later as his deputy in the home ministry, Kumar said he enjoyed a long but intense relation with Sayeed in whom he always found a leader who was concerned about the welfare of his people.
He said in 2003, as the then railway minister, he worked with Sayeed and found him very keen in extending railway network to Kashmir.
"It was difficult to carry forward work on Udhampur- Katra-Baramulla rail link due to some communication gaps but he (Sayeed) persuaded us to work on the project seriously," Kumar told the gathering.
He said during the construction of Srinagar railway station, Sayeed as the the chief minister, was very keen on preserving the heritage and old cultural pattern and took keen interest in preserving the grandeur of the place.
Earlier, the Bihar chief minister was conferred the first Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Award for Probity in Politics and Public Life, by Governor N N Vohra at a function here.
On the occasion, eminent economist Lord Meghnad Desai also delivered the first Mufti Memorial Lecture on the topic 'Devolving Power: The British Experience' in which he traced the legal and constitutional journey of the British society.
The event, chaired by the governor, was also attended by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti; Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi among others.
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