KCR and Jagan Hail Bharat Ratna Award for Narasimha Rao

Hyderabad: Former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and AP CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy have hailed the decision of the Government of India to confer the Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao.

KCR, in a statement, described this as an honour for the people of Telangana.

The BRS chief thanked the Centre for accepting the demand of BRS for conferring the country’s highest civilian award on Narasimha Rao.

BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao has also welcomed the decision of the Centre. He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this decision.

“We have been demanding the Union Government for this honour since the centenary celebrations of Sri PVNR held by Telangana Govt under the leadership of Sri KCR Garu,” KTR posted on X.

In 2020, Telangana Assembly had passed a resolution, urging the Centre to confer Bharat Ratna on Narasimha Rao.

While moving the resolution, Rao had described Narasimha Rao as a statesman, intellectual par excellence and a multi-linguist, crediting Rao with introducing modern economic reforms and paving the way for making India one of the largest economies in the world.

“Only two leaders turned India’s modern history. One was Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India and the second one was P V Narasimha Rao who was the maker of global India,” he said.

Meanwhile Chief Minister of Andhr Pradesh Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy said in a statement that “It’s an honour to all Telugu speaking people as the statesman, scholar with high political and moral values gets the highest civilian award which he richly deserves and it merits an all-round applause.”

“Conferring Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister Sri Chaudhary Charan Singh, who championed the farmer’s cause and Agriculture Scientist Sri MS Swaminathan, Father of Green Revolution is a matter of pride to the entire nation,” he added.

Leader of opposition and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president Chandrababu Naidu also hailed the Centre’s decision to confer the highest civilian award on Narasimha Rao. He called it a proud moment for all Telugus across the globe.

“An eminent scholar, leader, economist, writer, statesman, polyglot, and a humanist – PV Garu’s stellar leadership and pioneering economic reforms steered India through tough times, putting our great nation on the path to achieve greatness on the world stage. I’ve had the great fortune of meeting him on several occasions, deriving inspiration from his vision for the State and the Country,” Naidu said.

TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh termed this as the best news in recent times and a true honour for all Telugus. He stated that Narasimha Rao is credited for ‘transforming the economic scenario of our nation with his reforms, but he has done much more than that to make India the powerhouse it is today for the world.’

“My humble tributes to the great leader for all his distinguished accomplishments that has brought a positive change in the lives of millions,” said Lokesh.