Jat Mahasabha proposes Charan Singh's name for Bharat Ratna

New Delhi, Jan 22 (UNI) The All India Jat Mahasabha today proposed the name of former prime minister Charan Singh for the coveted Bharat Ratna.

Late Charan Singh was an honest and upright politician who worked for the welfare of farmers and the downtrodden, a Jat Mahasabha press release said here.

The Jat Mahasabha has already passed a resolution in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan for awarding the Bharat Ratna to Late Charan Singh posthumously.

The former prime minister's name was also proposed by the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), headed by his son Ajit Singh.

The other ''prospective contenders'' for the country's highest civilian award are former prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Chandra Shekhar, BSP founder Kanshi Ram, CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu, though he denied being in the running, veteran socialist leader and former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur, social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, former Union Minister and Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram, legendary singer Mohammad Rafi, last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, DMK supremo M Karunanidhi, former Home Minister S B Chavan, former Railway Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Ma Amritananda Anandamayi or Amma as she is known.

The Sikh Forum has also proposed the name of Lt Gen Aurora, who secured the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani troops at Dhaka in 1971, for the award.

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