Bharat Ratna who? PM keeps the suspense on

LOGJAM OVER GEM: The flood of nominations has now made Bharat Ratna a delicate issue for UPA.

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New Delhi: Is the UPA Government going to withhold the Bharat Ratna for the seventh year in a row? The politics over the nation's highest civilian honour has put the Government in a fix and there is now speculation that the award may be withheld this year too.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has, however, kept the suspense on after he told journalists on board the Special Aircraft flying him home from Beijing that there is still time to take a decision on Bharat Ratna.

"There is still time to take a decision," Singh said when he was asked whether his Government will consider the BJP's proposal to confer the country's highest civilian award on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Senior BJP leader LK Advani had earlier written to the PM, proposing Vajpayee's name for Bharat Ratna. That set off a clamour among all political parties for proposing candidates for the honour.

Besides Vajpayee, the names of political leaders Jyoti Basu, Kanshiram, Jagjivan Ram, M Karunanidhi, Karpoori Thakur, 19th Century social reformer Jyotibha Phule and singer Mohammad Rafi have been proposed for the coveted award.

The flood of nominations has now made it a delicate issue for the Government. If the Government decides against conferring the award on anyone, it will be the seventh year in a row that the nation's highest civil honour will remain unannounced.

The award was last given in 2001, jointly to Lata Mangeshkar and Ustad Bismillah Khan.

Advani, on his part, has maintained a studied silence on the issue after sending the letter. "I have said whatever I wanted to... I have nothing more to say now," he said on Tuesday.

BSP supremo and UP Chief Minister Mayawati has been pushing for conferring the honour on her mentor and party founder Kanshi Ram while the CPI(M) has proposed party patriarch and former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu. Basu, however, denied he was in the running. The Samajwadi Janata Party proposed its chief and former prime minister Chandra Shekhar.

The RLD has proposed the name of kisan leader and former prime minister Charan Singh while the RJD has backed veteran socialist leader and former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur.

The Lok Janshakti Party has proposed social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, former defence minister and prominent Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram and prominent singer Mohd Rafi.

On Monday, Delhi Assembly's Deputy Speaker Shoaib Iqbal went a step forward and proposed the name of last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, who had been deposed by the British after the 1857 revolt and died in exile in Myanmar.