The demand for Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in the country, to legendary actor and former chief minister N T Rama Rao seems to have become a big farce, as nobody is sincere in taking up the issue with the Centre.
Whether it is the Andhra Pradesh government or the family members of N T Rama Rao, they come out with the demand for Bharat Ratna to NTR only on twice a year: once on January 18, his death anniversary and again on May 28, his birth anniversary.
It has become a routine affair for them to come to NTR gardens, pay floral tributes to him and garland his statue before making the demand for Bharat Ratna to NTR.
It has been 21 years since NTR died, but there has not been any occasion when they made representations to the Centre leave alone lobbying for Bharat Ratna.
Ironically, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu who is now part of the NDA government, too, has not made any attempt to bring pressure on the Centre to get the award for his father-in-law.
If the Centre announces the award to NTR, it will be his widow Lakshmi Parvathi who has to receive the award as per the norms. This Naidu doesn’t like. Hence, he is not doing any lobbying, say the party sources!
