Late Mulayam Singh Yadav, S M Krishna among Padma Vibhushan awardees

Sudha Murty, Kumar Mangalam Birla are among the nine awardees of Padma Bhushan

Former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, late Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, renowned architect BV Doshi and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain are among 109 people who were chosen for the prestigious Padma awards on the eve of Republic Day.

Krishna, Yadav, late Doshi and Hussain were chosen for the second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan along with ORS pioneer Dilip Mahalanabis (posthumous) and Indian-American mathematician Srinivas Varadhan.

From Karnataka, towering writer S L Bhyrappa and philanthropist and Infosys founder NR Narayanamurthy’s wife Sudha Murthy were chosen for Padma Bhushan while four others were selected for Padma Shri.

Those who won the Padma Shri awards from Karnataka also included Khadar Valli Dudekula (science and engineering), folk artist Rani Machaiah, Thamata exponent P Munivenkatappa, Bidri craft exponent Shah Rasheed Ahmed Qadri and archaeologist S Subbaraman.

Altogether eight persons were chosen for Padma awards from Karnataka. The choice of Krishna, a former Governor and External Affairs Minister who quit Congress to join BJP with a public life of over six decades, comes at a time Karnataka is heading for polls and political watchers sought to read it as an attempt by the Narendra Modi government to woo the Vokkaligga community ahead of Assembly elections.

From another poll-bound Tripura, the government also chose BJP ally Indigenous People Front of Tripura (IPFT) founder Narendra Chandra Debbarma for Padma Shri posthumously. Another politician on the list was Manipur BJP president Thounaojam Chaoba Singh who was chosen for Padma Shri.

Altogether, there are 106 awards to 109 people – six Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushan and 91 Padma Shri awards – announced on Wednesday night, which included seven persons who passed away.

Besides Bhyrappa and Murthy, industrialist Kumaramangalam Birla, well-known singers Vani Jayaram and Suman Kalyanour, spiritual leaders Kamlesh D Patel and Swami Chinna Jeeyar, theoretical physicist Deepak Dhar and educationist Kapil Kapoor were chosen for the Padma Bhushan.

Among the Padma Shri winners are music composer MM Keerawani, whose Naatu Naatu song in RRR won the Golden Globe award and got an Oscar nomination, film actor Raveena Tandon, drupad maestro who retired from Banaras Hindu University Ritwick Sanyal and late investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

Of the 106 awardees, 19 are women, while two are in the category of foreigners or NRIs. For the year 2023, the President has approved the conferment of 106 Padma Awards, including three duo cases. Seven of the awardees are no more.