New Delhi: Lok Sabha member Mohan Rawale on March 14 met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and gave him a letter signed by several MPs demanding felicitation of ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar in the Central Hall of Parliament and conferment of Bharat Ratna upon him.

Lauding Tendulkar's contribution in the field of cricket, the MPs said in the letter that all cricket-loving people throughout the world are proud of him. "So, he deserves the highest award in the country," they said and cited the instances of the famous sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, shahnai player Bismillah Khan and melody queen Lata Mangeshkar who have been honoured with Bharat Ratna.

The letter was signed, among others, by Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi (Congress), K Yerrannaidu (Telugu Desam Party), Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Kunwar Akhilesh Singh (Samajwadi Party), Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Trinamool Congress), Devendra Prasad Yadav (Janata Dal - United), Chandrakant Khaire (Shiv Sena), Ram Vilas Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party) and Selva Ganapathi (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam).

PTI