HYDERABAD: Glowing tributes were paid to former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao on Saturday as the new Telangana government celebrated his 93rd birth anniversary as a state function for the first time.
Speaking after paying flower tributes to the ‘son of the soil’ at PV Gnana Bhoomi here, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said his cabinet would soon pass a resolution requesting the Centre to confer Bharat Ratna on the late legend.
He also announced on the occasion that a memorial building that would house the memorabilia of the late Prime Minister would be constructed in Hyderabad. “It will showcase PV’s life, his literature, speeches and other things,’’ Chandrasekhar Rao said adding that from next year the birth anniversary of late PV would be celebrated in a grand scale.
“There are several followers of PV in Warangal and Karimnagar districts. The government will arrange transport facility to them to attend the celebrations. As this is the first birth anniversary of PV after formation of Telangana government the celebrations are being held in a moderate manner,” he declared.
Rao said that though he was not been associated so closely with PV personally, he was well versed with the latter’s literary works. Though PV was a landlord, he was the first chief minister to implement land reforms announced by the Central government, he said.
Chandrasekhar Rao lamented that PV did not get the deserved honour at the national level though he was a genius on many fronts.
The chief minister also said that the state Cabinet would adopt a resolution urging the Centre to build a befitting memorial for the former Congress stalwart in Delhi. “Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya should also impress upon the BJP government at the Centre to see that Bharata Ratna is conferred on PV,” Rao said.
“A new district that will be carved out soon will be named after PV Narasimha Rao. We will also name a university in Telangana after him,” Chandrasekhar Rao said.
Governor ESL Narasimhan described the late Prime Minister as a ‘perfect human being.’
Stating that PV was a ‘lover of Ayurveda’, the governor asked the Telangana government to develop a herbal garden at the PV Gnana Bhoomi.
“He was a man who rose from a small position to the highest position in the country. We have to always remember that,’’ the governor said.
“I congratulate the state government for its gesture to keep the PV memory intact,’’ the governor said.
Poet C Narayana Reddy, Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, PV’s daughter Vani and others were present on the occasion.