The prestigious Padma Vibhushan awarded this year to singer Yesudas. He was awarded in the field of cinema and entertainment.

Reveals the source, “There are two Bollywood singers in the last. One of them has sung just a handful of songs that sound repetitive and monotonous. The other singer who is long retired made a career out of imitating and ripping off Lata Mangeshkar’s songs. Both these Padma Sri awardees have been lobbying relentlessly. In fact a veteran lyricist was desperately sending feelers to everyone in the Government until the last moment. He didn’t make it to the list.”

Also the fine actor Manoj Bajpai was nearly finalised for the Padma Shri. But what happened later is shocking to his well wishers that his name found missing from the list.

When asked a BJP member to clear this decision, “Manoj is a brilliant actor. But he is just not pushy enough. To get a Padma award the artiste needs to lobby hard. Manoj didn’t even try. This is not the Nobel prize and Manoj is not Bob Dylan,” he said.