Former BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi and Samajwadi Party member Mohan Singh have been chosen as the best parliamentarians for 2009 and 2008 respectively.
The Award Committee, which selects the nominees for the honour, finalised their names at a meeting on Wednesday. Their decision will have to be endorsed by the Executive Committee of the Indian Parliamentary Group before it is formally announced.
The committee also decided that as the winner of the best parliamentarian award for 2007 Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi was in no position to receive it because of illhealth, it should be handed over to his wife and Lok Sabha member Deepa Dasmunsi on his behalf.
The two awardees for 2008 and 2009 have had a long parliamentary career.
Seventy-six year-old Joshi was twice in the Rajya Sabha and is a fifth term member of the Lok Sabha elected from Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh.) He was home minister during the 13 day government of A.B Vajpayee in 1996 and was in charge of HRD ministry when the NDA was in power in 1988-1999 and from 1999-2004.
Mohan Singh, like Joshi, has had his political grooming in Allahabad in UP.
The 65- year-old leader was thrice elected to the Lower House, including to the 14th Lok Sabha from 2004-2009. He lost the elections in 2009. The former member of the UP assembly and council is currently the general secretary and spokesperson for SP.
{{/usCountry}}The 65- year-old leader was thrice elected to the Lower House, including to the 14th Lok Sabha from 2004-2009. He lost the elections in 2009. The former member of the UP assembly and council is currently the general secretary and spokesperson for SP.
{{/usCountry}}Instituted in 1995, the outstanding parliamentarian award has so far been conferred on 13 leaders: Chandrashekhar, Somnath Chatterjee, Pranab Mukherjee, S Jaipal Reddy, L K Advani, Arjun Singh, Jaswant Singh, Manmohan Singh, Sharad Pawar, Sushma Swaraj, P Chidambaram, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Dasmunsi.