Ramesh tweeted on Bhattacharya's refusal to accept the award, saying: "Right thing to do. He wants to be Azad not Ghulam."

 

The comment was indirectly aimed at his party colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was conferred the Padma Bhushan in the field of Public Affairs.

 

Azad is also a former Union minister and till recently, he was the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Azad was one of the first in the Congress to stoke the leadership issue in the party.

 

Former Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, on Tuesday refused to accept the Padma Bhushan award conferred upon him by the government of India.

 

Bhattacharya was given the award for his contribution in the field of Public Affairs.

 

A statement issued by the veteran CPI-M leader read: "I don't know anything about the Padma Bhushan award, nobody told me about it. If I were awarded the Padma Bhushan, I would reject it."

 

Minutes later, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri confirmed the statement.

 

Bhattacharya, 77, who is suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), hardly gets out of his house for the past few years now. Even during last year's Assembly polls in Bengal, the veteran leader did not campaign for his party. He was hospitalised twice in the last six months.