Received plea to withdraw Bharat Ratna of C N R Rao, Sachin Tendulkar: Government

NEW DELHI: Government told Parliament that it has received correspondence for withdrawing Bharat Ratna title that was recently conferred upon scientist Dr C N R Rao and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

"Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the country, is awarded in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour. The recommendations for Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister to President. No formal recommendations for this are necessary. No correspondence alleging favouritism regarding the award of Bharat Ratna has ben received.

"However, correspondence suggesting withdrawl of the Bharat Ratna to Dr CNR Rao and Sachin Tendulkar has been received," Minister of State (Home) M Ramachandran said in Lok Sabha.

The Minister, in his written reply, added "correspondence suggesting the award of Bharat Ratna to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, late P V Narasimha Rao, Jagjivan Ram and M Karunanidhi has been received."

"No correspondence in favour of any football player of the country has been received (for Bharat Ratna). The suggestions received in this regard are put up for the Prime Minister's consideration," he said.

Ramachandran also said "it is not a fact that a lot of reports are received about favouritism in selection of names of the awardees of the Padma awards".