YSR vacuum cures Cong of Rao amnesia: ads,tributes on death anniversary

P V Narasimha Rao remembered on his sixth death anniversary.

On Thursday,national and local dailies carried advertisements remembering P V Narasimha Rao on his sixth death anniversary. Glowing tributes were paid to the late prime minister. On Sunday,at the AICC plenary,Sonia Gandhi made a rare mention of Rao,crediting him with giving fresh impetus to the process of economic reforms. Political circles in Andhra Pradesh are abuzz that the Congress is trying to resurrect and re-own the name of Narasimha Rao to counter the legacy of the late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in the state.

P V Rajeswara Rao,the second son of Narasimha Rao,says politics in Delhi is about reading between the lines,but he takes the Congress presidents praise positively.

My father was in the party and served as prime minister. Finally,it is the party that has to recognise him and his services. I do not want to comment on why the Congress party is doing it now,but Delhis politics always depends on situations. So there is a lot to be read between the lines. I am not sure if Sonia Gandhi ever referred to my father in her speeches (in the past). At least she has never said anything negative about my father directly. This time she praised him at the AICC plenary,and we take it positively, Rajeswara Rao told The Indian Express.

A close friend of the former prime ministers eldest son and Congress MLC P V Ranga Rao,who attended the prayer meeting at the P V Jnana Bhoomi on Necklace Road in Hyderabad this afternoon,said: I think the message is clear. The party wants to indicate that the late YSR was not the only popular Congress leader of Andhra Pradesh. It is sad that after ignoring him all these years,the party is suddenly showing so much interest in him.

Rao and his family were dumped by the Congress,eager to distance itself from the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Rajeswara Rao,who was MP from Secunderabad from 1996-98 was denied a ticket for the midterm polls; Ranga Rao,a former state minister,was ignored for PCC functions and meetings.

Neither brother got a ticket for the 2004 Assembly elections,and the family felt disowned by the party during Narasimha Raos funeral that December. It was as though Rao did not exist for the Congress.

In the run-up to the UP Assembly polls in 2007,Rahul Gandhi said that had anyone from the Gandhi family been politically active in 1992,the Babri demolition would not have happened at all. Later,in 2009,mindful of having upset Telugu pride,the party nominated Ranga Rao to be MLC. Ranga Rao accepted the nomination,but is rarely seen in political circles.

Story continues below this ad

And so,the ads by the Andhra government this morning describing Rao as the first prime minister from the land of Telugus,a legendary political figure with incredible acumen like Chanakya,the great reformist who transformed India into an economic superpower came as a surprise.

At the prayer meeting at P V Jnana Bhoomi,Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was present. A medical camp was held,and food was distributed to the needy. Another prayer meeting was held at the Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi.

APCC president D Srinivas insisted the state government and Congress party had always held prayer meetings for Rao. This is being unnecessarily politicised. We have paid glowing tributes every year to Narasimha Rao since 2004,when the Congress came to power, he said.

Srinivas also said this was not the first time that Sonia had appreciated Raos contribution; his name had been mentioned earlier too. The government has even named Indias longest flyover in Hyderabad after Rao.