Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said he will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confer Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, on noted Marathi poet and social reformer Annabhau Sathe.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party chief, who visited Sathe’s memorial at Wategaon in Sangli district of Maharashtra earlier in the day, said Telangana government will be writing to the Centre on the issue.
He asked Maharashtra government to also write to the Centre to accord the highest honour to Annabhau Sathe, who was born on August 1, 1920 and died on July 18, 1969. Rao paid respects at the memorial of Annabhau Sathe at Wategaon, the birthplace of the legendary poet.
Sathe hailed from the backward Matang community and rose to become the voice of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement. He wrote poems, and songs attacking societal ills. Sathe is deeply revered among Dalits and other sections.