Shortly after being named among recipients of the Padma Bhushan award on January 25, former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhatacharjee said he will not accept the title.
"If I am conferred with Padma Bhushan award, I am rejecting it," news agency PTI quoted Bhatacharjee, a veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, as saying.
A total of 17 names were approved by President Ram Nath Kovind for the Padma Bhushan, which is awarded for "distinguished service of high order".
Apart from Bhatacherjee, the other top politician included in the list is Congress veteran and former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Bhatacherjee, 77, served as the chief minister of Bengal from 2000 to 2011. He also served as an MLA from the state's politically crucial Jadavpur assembly constituency between 1987 and 2011.
A staunch proponent of the Communist ideology, Bhatacharjee is also a former member of the CPI(M)'s Politburo -- the highest decision-making body of the party.
Bhatacharjee's impact, in the state's political circles, has reduced over the past few years which is attributed partly to his ailing health.
The conclusion of his tenure as the chief minister, in 2011, also marked an end to the 35 years of Left rule in Bengal. Since then, the CPI(M) and its allies have been constantly loosing electoral grounds in the state.
In 2015, Bhatacharjee was relieved from his role in the CPI(M)'s Politburo.
Ahead of the assembly polls last year, Bhatacharjee was, however, active in targeting the political rivals. He had described state-ruling Trinamool Congress as "autocratic" and the prime challenger Bharatiya Janata Party as "divisive", and accused them of bringing Bengal to the ruins.
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