Calcutta/New Delhi, Jan. 12: Jyoti Basu today said he is not in the race for the Bharat Ratna.

“I am not in the race,” the CPM patriarch told party mouthpiece Ganashakti when it contacted him for a comment on reports about the possibility of the award being conferred on him.

Basu’s statement confirms the CPM’s position that it will not ask for the country’s highest civilian honour to be given to him. But it does not quite answer the question whether he will accept it or the party will have any objection if the government decides to confer it on him anyway.

CPM sources said the party might face a dilemma if the government makes an offer. “Although the party has always opposed its leaders accepting such official honours and titles, people do not like rejection of such honours by an individual or by a party,” a CPM source said.

The party leadership, in Delhi and Bengal, stepped in today to scotch rumours that Basu was a contender.

Sources who remained unnamed told PTI in Delhi that “it is not a practice of our leaders to accept state awards”. They pointed out that the P.V. Narasimha Rao government had offered former party general secretary E.M.S. Namboodiripad the Padma Vibhushan but it was politely turned down.

In Calcutta, CPM state secretary Biman Bose took the same line. “The party had opposed it when the Centre had decided to confer an award on E.M.S. Namboodiripad,” he said.

Only yesterday, Bose had said the Centre could “think over” giving the award to the CPM veteran if he “fulfils the parameters”.

The CPM, the sources said, does not want to come out with a formal statement on Basu just yet since no formal offer has come their way. But the party leadership made its position clear and hoped the government would take the hint and not “embarrass” it further by dragging in Basu’s name, the sources said.

The CPM central leaders do not want to formally reject an offer because of the repercussions it may have in Bengal — where sections of the state unit would be quite happy if Basu receives the honour.

It would be best if the offer is not made at all, a party leader confessed, pointing out that Basu’s name had gained currency only because the Congress wanted to counter the demand made on behalf of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mayavati demand

Taking a cue from BJP leader L.K. Advani, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayavati today shot off a letter to the Prime Minister demanding that the Bharat Ratna be awarded to her mentor and Bahujan Samaj Party founder the late Kanshi Ram. Advani has sought the award for former Prime Minister Vajpayee.

Mayavati’s demand is certain to add to the Prime Minister’s headache. The government has not conferred the Bharat Ratna on anyone since 2001 not because of a paucity of candidates but an over-abundance of them.

Ever since the government changed its original statute and added the provision of conferring the award posthumously, there has been a spate of demands. Family members of P.V. Narasimha Rao, Charan Singh, N.T. Rama Rao and Jagjivan Ram have all lobbied the government for it, sources said.

If Advani’s advocacy for Vajpayee is being seen as the BJP’s way to reach out to the alienated Brahmin voters of Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is aware that rebuffing Mayavati’s demand may invite the charge of being “anti-Dalit”.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who left for China tonight, said it was “too early” to decide. But with Republic Day just two weeks away, the government has to quickly decide from the plethora of candidates seeking to be awarded for the “highest degree of national service”. Even not taking a decision will be a decision in itself.