Naveen Patnaik’s sister and author Gita Mehta declines Padma Shri award
Sujit kumar bisoyi | TNN | Updated: Jan 26, 2019, 10:34 ISTGita Mehta(NBT image)
BHUBANESWAR: Renowned author Gita Mehta on Saturday declined to accept the Padma Shri award, which the Centre announced on the eve of Republic Day. Gita is the elder sister of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
“I am deeply honoured that the Government of India should think me worthy of a Padma Shri but with great regret I feel I must decline as there is a general election looming and the timing of the award might be misconstrued, causing embarrassment both to the Government and myself, which I would much regret,” she said in a press statement issued from New York.
Mehta was selected for the prestigious civilian honour in the ‘literature and education’ category.
The Union ministry of home affairs, in a press note issued on Friday, mentioned her as a ‘foreigner’. Sources in the chief minister’s office here said she is an Indian citizen.
Some of her famous literary works include Karma Cola, A River Sutra and Eternal Ganesha.
Gita is one of the three children of former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik and is married to Sonny Mehta, a leading publisher.
“I am deeply honoured that the Government of India should think me worthy of a Padma Shri but with great regret I feel I must decline as there is a general election looming and the timing of the award might be misconstrued, causing embarrassment both to the Government and myself, which I would much regret,” she said in a press statement issued from New York.
Mehta was selected for the prestigious civilian honour in the ‘literature and education’ category.
The Union ministry of home affairs, in a press note issued on Friday, mentioned her as a ‘foreigner’. Sources in the chief minister’s office here said she is an Indian citizen.
Some of her famous literary works include Karma Cola, A River Sutra and Eternal Ganesha.
Gita is one of the three children of former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik and is married to Sonny Mehta, a leading publisher.
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