The Bihar Congress on Sunday raised the demand for conferring Bharat Ratna on Shri Krishna Sinha, better known as 'Shri babu' in the state, where he had been the first, and till date, the longest-serving chief minister.
Senior Congress leader Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who is the party's sole Rajya Sabha member from the state, said a resolution to this effect would be passed on Monday at a function organized on the occasion of Shri babu's birth anniversary.
Singh, however, dismissed suggestions that the move was aimed at winning back the Bhumihar community - traditionally Congress supporters who have tilted towards the BJP in the post-Mandal era.
"Shri babu was not the leader of any one community. It was during his tenure that Bihar became the first state in the country to abolish the zamindari system. The worst-hit by the move were members of his own community," Singh - a Bhumihar himself - said.
"Today it has become fashionable to speak about social justice. Shri babu ...
