NEW DELHI: Senior BJP member L K Advani, Yoga guru Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar are among the various personalities who are likely to be conferred the Padma awards this Republic Day.
While Ramdev has been closely associated with the Sangh Parivar and campaigned for the BJP in the run up to 2014 polls, Ravishankar has been an active supporter of PM Narendra Modi. Amitabh Bachchan has been brand ambassador of Gujarat for several years now, having been roped in when Modi was still the state chief minister.
Seer of the Tulsi Peeth and Sanskrit scholar Rambhadracharya, whom Narendra Modi nominated for Swachcha Bharat Abhiyan, and founder of Bharat Mata Mandir in Haridwar Swami Satyamitranand are also among prospective awardees.
Senior journalists Rajat Sharma and Swapan Dasgupta are also expected to be conferred the award among personalities from the media.
Other probables include creator of Chacha Chaudhary cartoonist Pran, who will be given the award posthumously, Salman Khan’s father Salim Khan, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, who wrote poll campaign poems for the BJP, wrestler Sushil Kumar and Niti Aayog member Bibek Debroy. Names of Hindustani classical vocalist Girija Devi, violinist L Subramanium (who played at the gala event organized in the US on Modi visit), music directors Anu Malik and Ravindra Jain are also among those likely to figure in the Padma list.
The Padma list is usually finalized by the Prime Minister’s Office a day or two before they are announced on the eve of Republic Day. The Prime Minister may or may not make changes to the list, which is finalized by a Padma Awards Committee constituted each year. The committee goes by the recommendations received within a stipulated deadline, and also takes into account intelligence inputs on whether there are any pending police complaints or court cases against the shortlisted candidates.
Once the President approves the Padma list, the awardees are intimated by a senior officer of the Union home ministry and their consent taken for the award to be conferred on them. Only then is the list released by the Union home ministry.
Meanwhile, the Union home ministry on Friday stated in a release that it was yet to announce the Padma Awards for the year 2015. The announcement, it said, was made on January 25 every year.
“The names appearing in the media are speculative and there is no official confirmation for the same,” said the home ministry release.
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