HD Deve Gowda, Sharad Yadav back Charan Singh memorial demand

The Centre's decision reportedly to reject the proposal for a memorial to former prime minister the late Chaudhary Charan Singh was an insult to all the farmers in the country, JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda said here today.

Speaking at a rally organised by the Chaudhary Charan Singh Memorial Committee, former prime minister Deve Gowda told the gathering that they would have to collectively put pressure on the government to allow the building of the memorial at 12, Tughlaq Road in New Delhi.

Other speakers at the event, among whom were JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav and former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, also raised a demand for the Bharat Ratna to be posthumously conferred on Singh.

Charan Singh's son and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, too, attended the event.

12, Tughlaq Road had been the residence of former Union aviation minister Ajit Singh. He was fined for overstaying in the type-VIII bungalow after failing to win a parliamentary seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.