At a grand function that was held on Tuesday in the premises of the Vidhana Soudha, the Karnataka government conferred a prestigious award named ‘Karnataka Ratna’ to the late star actor Puneeth Rajkumar, at the sight of some of the industry bigwigs like Tamil Superstar Rajinikant, Telugu Superstar Jr NTR and Indian author, educator, philanthropist and chairperson of Infosys Foundation, Sudha Murthy.
Fans were delighted about the recognition of their favourite personality. The wife of the late actor Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar received Mysore peta (traditional cap) and award as thousands cheered and celebrated the moment. The occasion was also graced by the chief minister of Karnataka, Basavaraj Bommai and his cabinet colleagues.
During the award ceremony, Superstar Rajinikanth delivered his speech in Kannada by saying, “I will pray before Rajarajeshwari, Allah and Jesus that all should live like brothers without differentiation of caste and religion. Puneeth was the son of God. That kid was with us for sometime and after spending some time, showing the talent he has again united with God. When I come here in future, I heard that when the Karnataka Ratna award was given to his father Dr Rajkumar, it rained. I congratulate the Karnataka government on behalf of Puneeth’s fans for conferring him this award.”
One of the star actors in Telugu, Jr NTR has also spoken about the greatness of Puneeth. He said Puneeth Rajkumar won the whole state without ego and without waging war. He is the only person to achieve this feat. He further said, “I am here on the stage not as a superstar, but I am here as his proud friend. I thank the Karnataka government for making me part of this programme. Puneeth was a great superstar of Karnataka, proud son, husband, father, friend, actor, dancer and singer. Along with this, he was a great human being. I can’t see the royal smile on anyone’s face that adored Puneeth’s face.”