The government on Thursday sought to make light of Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's letter urging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to confer the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In a sarcastic vein, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said it would have been better had Advani honoured him within the party.
"It is not in the tradition to communicate through letter on such matters," he said when asked by reporters to comment on Advani's letter.
Advani had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying he would like to propose Vajpayee's name for the nation's highest civilian award, for the BJP leader's contribution to the national life and for strengthening democracy.
Dasmunsi said that he did not know why Advani had written such a letter, but felt that had the Leader of Opposition honoured Vajpayee within the party, it would have been much better. "Such matters are not decided though letters," he said.
He pointed out that many people write seeking honours like Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, but there was an appropriate committee at the Centre to decide on such issues.
These awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day every year. The Bharat Ratna was last conferred on shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan and melody queen Lata Mangeshkar in 2001
