President Droupadi Murmu confers Bharat Ratna awards on LK Advani, Chaudhary Charan Singh, three others

NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Bharat Ratna award to five eminent personalities on Saturday, including two former Prime Ministers. The country's highest civilian honour was awarded to former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and two-time former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur, posthumously at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The honour to BJP veteran LK Advani will be conferred at his residence.The awards bestowed upon Rao, Singh, Thakur, and Swaminathan were accepted by their family members.Son of former Prime Minister Rao, P V Prabhakar Rao received the award from the President on behalf of his father.Jayant Chaudhary, Singh's grandson and the President of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), accepted the honor from the President.Swaminathan's daughter Nitya Rao and Thakur's son Ram Nath Thakur received the award from the president.Among various dignitaries, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the ceremony.This year, the government announced five Bharat Ratna awards, including one for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart and former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.