Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday appealed to the central government to confer ‘Bharat Ratna’ upon legendary singer S P Balasubrahmanyam, who passed away on September 25 after a prolonged battle with Covid-19 at the MGM hospital in Chennai.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jagan said the union government had earlier conferred Bharat Ratna on music legends such as Lata Mangeshkar, Bhupen Hazarika, M S Subbulakshmi, Ustad Bismillah Khan, and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Similarly, Jagan appealed to the PM to confer Bharat Ratna to SPB who had received the Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2011. “As a tribute to the legendary singer for his outstanding contribution in the field of music and art, I request you to confer Bharat Ratna upon Balasubrahmanyam,” the Chief Minister requested.

Jagan said SPB deserves to be conferred with Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award for his outstanding contribution in the field of music for more than five decades. Jagan said SPB’s achievements go beyond music. “Our state of Andhra Pradesh is fortunately being the birthplace (SPS Nellore district) of the great music maestro S P Balasubrahmanyam. His untimely departure not only caused much distress to fans and celebrities in India but has also affected the international music fraternity,” the Chief Minister noted in his letter.