Atal Bihari Vajpayee may have just responded with his famous disarming smile to the buzz today about him getting the Bharat Ratna. But, as prime minister he had rejected the idea of his own government bestowing the highest civilian award on him.

"Kya hum apne aap ko hi Bharat Ratna denge? (Will I give the award to myself?)" he had said expressing his reservations about it, recalls Ashok Tandon, who was media advisor to Vajpayee. It was after the Kargil war, when the BJP-led NDA got re-elected, that some of the prime minister's key functionaries suggested at the dining table that it was the right time for him to get the Bharat Ratna. They argued that there was precedence of prime ministers-- Jawahar Lal Nehru and Indira Gandhi-- getting the award while in office.

Vajpayee quietly heard and then said he did not think it appropriate that as prime minister he should himself get the award and wanted the subject to be closed. When the Kargil war was mentioned, he said the credit for it went to the soldiers. However, the matter did not end there. There was a proposal later that when he was abroad, in his absence the union cabinet could decide on awarding the Bharat Ratna to him. "He somehow got wind of it and said aisa hargis nahi hoga, (this will not definitely not happen)," recollects Tandon.

Today, the BJP has again raised the demand for the former prime minister being awarded the Bharat Ratna. At 6A Krishna Menon Marg, guarded by the Special Protection Group (SPG), Vajpayee, in all likelihood, would be oblivious of the clamour.

Visitors are generally allowed to the former prime minister between 11 am and 1 pm and then between 5-7 pm, according to sources. Some leaders like prime minister Narendra Modi and party veteran LK Advani make it a point to visit him on his birthday on December 25. Several ministers visited Vajpayee after taking oath.

Modi has announced that Vajpayee's birthday will be observed as "Good Governance Day" and asked party MPs to work for an hour in their constituencies as part of the "Clean India Campaign". In his rallies in Jammu and Kashmir, Modi has been invoking Vajpayee's vision. In Srinagar he recalled the former Prime Minister's words-- insaaniyat, Kashmiriyat and jamooriyat (humanity, being Kashmiri and democracy)-- and endorsed them assuring he would carry forward the legacy.

There is speculation that Bharat Ratna for Vajpayee will be announced on Vajpayee's birthday. Sources close to Vajpayee say he always rated the award as something significant.