Daily Hunt, June 24, 2020
Chennai: Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab is among the eight sitting Lok Sabha members and two Rajya Sabha members, who will be presented the Sansad Maha Ratna Awards 2020.
The awards will be presented under various categories, based on their performance during the first year of the 17th Lok Sabha, said Prime Point Foundation on Wednesday.
Mahtab, a senior leader of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha, is a six-time MP and contested successfully from Cuttack Parliamentary constituency in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019.
Apart from individual parliamentarians, the departmentally related Standing Committee on Agriculture headed by P.C. Gaddigoudar (BJP MP from Bagalkot, Karnataka) has been chosen for the same award for their performance in the 17th Lok Sabha.
The award is being presented since 2010 and was started at the behest of former President late A. P. J.Abdul Kalam.
The first edition of the award was launched by Kalam in May 2010, Prime Point Foundation said in a statement.
According to the statement, Supriya Sule (NCP MP from Baramati, Maharashtra) will get the Sansad Maha Ratna Award 2020 for her overall performance in initiating debates, the number of questions asked, and the Private Members Bills in the first year of the 17th Lok Sabha.
Subhash Ramrao Bhamre (BJP MP from Dhule, Maharashtra), Heena Gavit (BJP, Nandurbar, Maharashtra), and Amol Ramsing Kolhe, (NCP, Shirur, Maharashtra) will receive the award for Questions, Women and First-time MPs categories respectively.
Shashi Tharoor (Congress, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala), Nishikant Dubey (BJP, Godda, Jharkhand), Ajay Misra (BJP, Kheri, Uttar Pradesh) and Ram Mohan Naidu (TDP, Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh) have been nominated for Sansad Ratna Award for their overall qualitative performance and individual efforts, the statement said.
Rajya Sabha MPs who have been nominated for the award are Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh) and Chhaya Verma (Congress, Chhattisgarh).
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