Bhubaneswar: Dr Sasmit Patra, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) lawmaker in Rajya Sabha, and Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor were picked as best parliamentarians for the Lokmat Parliamentary Awards 2023 on Tuesday.
Besides Tharoor, Patra, and six other lawmakers from the two Houses also received awards in various categories for their contributions to Parliament.
While Lok Sabha MP and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Danish Ali and CPI(M) MP from Rajya Sabha, John Brittas, were picked as the best debutant parliamentarians of the year, Samajwadi Party MP from Rajya Sabha, Ram Gopal Yadav, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Lok Sabha MP Maneka Sanjay Gandhi were conferred the lifetime achievement awards.
Shiromani Akali Dal lawmaker from Lok Sabha, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, and BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Saroj Pandey were awarded the best woman parliamentarians in the respective Houses.
The Lokmat Parliamentary Awards are given to outstanding parliamentarians – four from Lok Sabha and four from Rajya Sabha – every year. This is the fifth edition of the awards, the recipients of which were selected by a jury headed by Lokmat Parliamentary Awards Committee chairman and former secretary general of Lok Sabha, Subhas Kashyap.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari was the chief guest at the award ceremony which was also attended by Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale.
