Sticky situation for Congress: Advani proposed Atal's name for Bharat Ratna

The Leader of Opposition Lal Krishna Advani has suggested former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Bajpayee's name for Bharat Ratna Award, the highest civilian award in a letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The letter which was released on January 9 mentioned various accomplishments of Atal Bihari Bajpayee regarding his being the cynosure of all eyes, his tenure as one of the longest to serve as Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi; was first to run a stable coalition government.

The letter also mentioned Vajpayee's day in imprisonment during emergency and that he was outstanding parliamentarian and had the distinction of the longest parliamentary tenure among MPs now.

“Although a leader from the opposition ranks, he never hesitated to support the government of the day when national interests were at stake. His support to Indira Gandhi at the time of the 1971 war for the liberation of Bangladesh, to the nuclear test conducted by her government in 1974, and to economic reforms unveiled by the government of PV Narasimha Rao are a case in point�, wrote Advani.

Adding that the award being the highest civilian award should be conferred to those highly distinguished Indians who are widely acclaimed for having rendered outstanding service to nation. Advani further wrote that though there have been some instances when a deserved person did not get the recognition.

The letter has created a sticky situation for the Congress at the centre, the congress spokesperson Shakil Ahmed said, “The Congress has no role. There is a committee to decide and it is not for us to decide who is fit or unfit.� Asked if Vajpayee deserved Bharat Ratna, he said “those who do good work for India and who are outstanding should be selected. We have criticised, we have supported and we have opposed Vajpayeee on a number of issues.�

The party also pointed that it has no role in it and the award is totally left at the discretion of award committee.

Till now six Prime Ministers had been conferred with this award including Jawaharlal Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Morarji Desai and Guljari Lal Nanda.

It is to be mentioned here that after 2001 no award has been conferred in this category.