Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], December 31 : Following the Telangana Assembly's passing of a resolution seeking the Bharat Ratna for late former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao urged the state government to persuade the Central government to establish a memorial for former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao in the national capital.
Rao said, "Dr Manmohan Singh was a great economist and is respected across party lines. Our party supported the resolution passed in the Assembly today. We also appreciate the government's move to install a statue of Dr Singh here. However, we remind the Congress government in Telangana that the only Prime Minister who served India honourably and brought in significant reforms was PV Narasimha Rao. Unfortunately, he is the only late Prime Minister who does not have a memorial in the national capital. We have demanded that the state government also pass a resolution in the Assembly to honour PV Narasimha Rao and urge the Union government to set up a memorial for him."
He alleged that the state government was avoiding discussions about PV Narasimha Rao due to political compulsions. Rao said, "He is a son of the soil, from Telangana. We hope the Union government will take notice of this demand and set up a memorial, along with what they are doing for former PM Manmohan Singh."
Earlier, BRS MLC K Kavitha on Monday slammed Congress for "disrespecting" former PM PV Narasimha Rao by not conducting his last rites in Delhi.
"It is a well-known fact that the Congress government has ignored PV Narasimha Rao and disrespected him. They did not conduct his last rites in Delhi. In Telangana, we have respected him. We celebrated his birth centenary. We built a huge memorial here in Hyderabad. However, as a former Prime Minister, I believe PV Narasimha Rao should have his memorial (in Delhi)," Kavitha told ANI.
A war of words has broken out between political parties over the cremation of Manmohan Singh at Delhi's Nigambodh Ghat with Congress leaders criticising the central government for allegedly disrespecting Dr Singh by performing his last rites at Nigambodh Ghat instead of Rajghat.
The Congress claimed that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to hold the ceremony at Rajghat, but they refused, showing "narrow-mindedness" and "hatred" towards the former PM.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday accused the Congress party of "creating" a controversy over the demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and building a memorial for him. He highlighted that former PM Narasimha Rao's body wasn't even brought to the AICC headquarters.