Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Friday welcomed the Centre’s decision to award the Bharat Ratna Award to former prime ministers Narasimha Rao, Chaudhry Charan Singh and agricultural scientist MS Sri Dr. Vaminathan.

“I welcome them, why not,” the former party president said as she walked out of parliament and towards her car.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the posthumous conferment of the country’s highest civilian award “Bharat Ratna” to two former prime ministers and an agricultural scientist.

Party president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed appreciation for the decision in a post on the microblogging site X on behalf of the Indian National Congress.

“The Congress party salutes their vision, hard work and the extraordinary legacy of these national icons, which the country continues to celebrate,” he said.

Recalling the contributions of former Prime Minister and former Congress president PV Narasimha Rao, Khargage said that he had contributed immensely to nation-building and added that during his rule, “India Embarking on this transformational journey, a series of economic reforms played a key role” in shaping the middle class for generations to come. “

Haq praised former Prime Minister Chaudhry Charan Singh for his pro-farmer policies and said tens of millions of farmers respected Singh, who helped strengthen rural India. He also called Singh a “son of the soil.”

The party president termed Dr Swaminathan a legendary scientist who was known for his unparalleled contributions to the field of agricultural science and made India food self-sufficient through the Green Revolution, a milestone in nation-building.

“He was an outstanding system builder and above all a humanitarian. He is also known as the “Father of Economic Ecology”, a well-deserved pseudonym.” He posted on X.