Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to confer “Bharat Ratna” posthumously on J Jayalalithaa.
“I have requested the prime minister to recognise services and welfare policies of Amma and confer her Bharat Ratna,” he said after a meeting with Modi. Accompanied by state Chief Secretary Rama Mohana Rao, advisor Sheela Balakrishnan and Deputy Lok Sabha Speaker M Thambidurai, he also put forth a request for setting up a state-sponsored statue of Jayalalithaa in Parliament complex.
“Permission for installation of a life-sized statue of the departed leader on the Parliament premises has also been sought,” Panneerselvam said.
At its first meeting on December 10 after Jaya’s death, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet had decided to recommend her name for Bharat Ratna and to propose to the Centre to install her life-size bronze statue in Parliament complex.