"Vajpayee jee is a towering personality. He deserves to get Bharat Ratna. I feel Vajpayee should have been given this honour much earlier," he told reporters.
Manjhi, who is heading JD(U) government in Bihar after resignation of Nitish Kumar in the wake of party debacle in the general election, extended warm greetings to Vajpayee on his 90th birthday tomorrow.
Nitish Kumar had also yesterday supported Bharat Ratna for Vajpayee and said he should have been given it during UPA rule itself. Kumar had served as minister in NDA government headed by Vajpayee.
"His stature is above party politics," he said.