Maharashtra BJP unit on Tuesday said it will ask the party-led NDA government at the Centre to confer Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly known as Veer Savarkar.

In its election manifesto, released by BJP working president J P Nadda, the state unit also sought the honour for social reformers Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule, a party leader said.

The manifesto speaks of "pursuing the matter with the Central government," the leader said.

Many BJP leaders look up to Savarkar for inspiration although he was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha and not the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP.