Highly recommended but no Padma still

Hyderabad: Actor-turned-Telugu Desam MP Maganti Murali Mohan was India’s second most recommended individual for the Padma awards for 2018, while BVG India group chief Hanmant Rao Gaikwad topped the chart. Murali Mohan, an artiste with 40 years experience in the Telugu film industry received 2,614 recommendations and Mr Gaikwad, 4,536.  The two together received more than 20 per cent of the total recommendations. Ironically, neither featured in the Padma awards list 2018.

In early 2017, the ministry of home affairs welcomed recommendations from all sections of people for the various Padma awards.  The centralised web portal that was established received a total of 35,595 recommendations. The third in the list was Dr Bhogaraju Ramana Rao, the physician who was born in Hyderabad but has his roots in West Godavari district of AP and currently lives in Bengaluru. He received the Padma Shri in 2010. But all the top three recommendations were not considered.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Murali Mohan said, “Despite being the second most recommended individual across the nation, the Central government did not consider my name. I don’t understand their selection process, neither can I question them. Also, no reasons are given for not considering my profile. I have all the qualifications, with more than 40 years in films. I have produced several movies highlighting Telugu literature. This apart I have adopted 1,000 students and sponsored their education in engineering, medicine and commerce. Maybe because I am a member of parliament from a different political party could be the reason for not selecting me.” 

However, the TDP was not in conflict with the Central government when the Padma awards were issued in January 2018, and also the entire selection process was done in 2017 when the TD was a strong ally of the BJP. The Padma awards 2018 were a big disappointment for the two Telugu states as Telangana drew a complete blank and Andhra Pradesh had to be content with just one Padma Shri for badminton player Srikanth Kidambi, who won gold in four tournaments of the Badminton World Federation super series last year.  Of the 86 awardees for 2018, 31 got no recommendation from the portal. Clearly, the popular vote counts for little. Andhra Pradesh and TS are among the five states with the highest number of recommendations.