![[File] Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee | Salil Bera](https://img.theweek.in/content/dam/week/news/india/images/2019/9/9/buddhadeb-bhattacharya-file-salil.jpg "[File] Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee | Salil Bera")
Veteran CPI(M) leader and former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday rejected the Padma Bhushan award.
"I know nothing about this award. No one has told me anything about it. If they have decided to offer Padma Bhushan to me, I refuse to accept it," he said in a statement.
The CPI(M) tweeted saying it was party policy.
Com. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya who was nominated for the Padma Bhushan award has declined to accept it. The CPI(M) policy has been consistent in declining such awards from the State. Our work is for the people not for awards. Com EMS who was earlier offered an award had declined it. pic.twitter.com/fTmkkzeABl
— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) January 25, 2022
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Hindutva poster boy late Kalyan Singh and India's first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat who died in a helicopter crash recently were awarded Padma Vibhushan on Tuesday, while veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee were conferred with Padma Bhushan.
