New Delhi/Bhubaneswar:  Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Bhartruhari Mahatab will be conferred the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for 2017.

The Indian Parliamentary Group (IPG) today announced that BJD’s Lok Sabha MP Mahatab from Cuttack will receive the honour for his experience, debating skills, awareness of issues and the depth with which issues were raised.

Dinesh Trivedi, Lok Sabha MP of Trinamool Congress, would get the award for 2016 and Congress veteran and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad would get it for 2015, the Lok Sabha secretariat said in a statement.

Besides, former Rajya Sabha member Najma Heptulla gets the award for 2013 and Lok Sabha member Hukumdev Narayan Yadav for 2014.

The MPs were selected on the basis of their experience, debating skills, awareness of issues and the depth with which issues were raised, official sources said.

The names were shortlisted by an award committee headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and comprised members including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, senior BJP leader L K Advani, Deputy Chairman of the Upper House P J Kurien, Congress leader Karan Singh and Ram Bhadur Rai, head of the Indira Gandhi National Centre For Arts.

The committee recommended these names to the IPG, a 24-member autonomous body of the current and former MPs of both houses which is also headed by the Speaker.

Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated Mahatab for being selected to receive the Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards for 2017.

(With Agency Inputs)