Puneeth ‘real Karnataka Ratna’: Bommai

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Chief Minister has said that Puneeth Rajkumar, the recently deceased actor, is the real Karnataka Ratna. “His life contributions are immense and have left a mark in the minds of the people. He deserves to be Karnataka Ratna,” Bommai said.

He added that Puneeth will be conferred with the ‘Karnataka Ratna’ award, the highest civilian honour in Karnataka, on November 1. Although the award has been announced before, it has been finalised in a meeting held on Thursday.

Before calling Puneeth the ‘real ratna’, the chief minister highlighted that since 2009, only eight people have been conferred with the award. The Karnataka Ratna award was put together in 1992. Dr Rajkumar and the renowned author Kuvempu were first to receive the award.