PC, Pawar among ‘outstanding’ MPs

NEW DELHI: NCP chief and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, finance minister P Chidambaram, panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj have been selected for the ‘outstanding parliamentarian’ award for 2003-2006.

The selection committee headed by Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee met last week and shortlisted their names, it is reliably learnt.

After other formalities are completed, the awards will be presented to the aforesaid before the monsoon session of Parliament ends by president Pratibha Patil.

Pawar gets the award for his performance during 2003, Swaraj for 2004, Chidambaram for 2005 and Aiyar for 2006.

In 2005, Prime minister Manmohan Singh, senior BJP leaders Jaswant Singh, LK Advani and external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee awarded for their performances between 1999-2002.