Assembly seeks Bharat Ratna for Telugu bidda

HYDERABAD: The Telangana legislative assembly on Tuesday passed resolution urging the Centre to confer the country’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao to mark his birth centenary this year.

Moving the resolution, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao described Rao’s service to the nation on a par with India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru. KCR said if Nehru was responsible for an independent India, Rao with his bold decisions during the ’90s was the architect of global India. “Because of his long-term vision, India was able to get investments when the country was in a deep crisis. Because of him, more private jobs were made possible,” he said.
KCR said being the first prime minister from the south, Rao’s knowledge on various issues was immense. Praising the former PM, the CM said: “He never cared for power. He lost his CM post when he tried to implement land reforms. He gave away 800 acres of land to the government to be distributed among the poor.”
The CM said Rao had never received the recognition as PM because he hailed from Telangana. “People of this land see him as their pride.” The CM said it would be in fitness of things that the Centre make an announcement on Bharat Ratna for Rao in the forthcoming parliament session. “Apart from conferring Bharat Ratna, University of Hyderabad should be named after Rao and a statue of Rao should be unveiled in parliament.”
He said Rao was multi-talented and a multi-linguist. Because of his efforts, Telugu writers like Viswanatha Satyanarayana and C Narayana Reddy won Jnanpith awards. Another Telangana poet, Kaloji Narayana Rao, came into prominence because of Rao’s efforts. “From introducing Navodaya schools to open jails to supporting mulki rules, Rao was always there for people.”
KCR also made an appeal to assembly speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy to unveil the former PM’s portrait in the assembly complex to which the latter agreed.