India, Jan. 10 -- Nitish Kumar's party has distanced itself from a prominent demand for the Bihar Chief Minister to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

Reacting two days after former Janata Dal (United) MP KC Tyagi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider bestowing the Bharat Ratna Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) on Saturday said the statement was "not in line with the party's ideology". Nitish Kumar has not yet reacted to it.

Tyagi had said, in a letter to the PM on Thursday, that Nitish Kumar is a "precious gem" of the socialist movement, thus worthy of the highest civilian honour.

Asked about Tyagi's letter, JD(U) national spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan Prasad said, "The former party MP has made several statement...