The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Manmohan to lead mourners at Narasimha Rao's funeral

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 25, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Manmohan to lead mourners at Narasimha Rao's funeral

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 24. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, will lead a large contingent of Central and State leaders who are coming to the State capital to attend the cremation of the former Prime Minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao, on Saturday.

A four-acre site on the banks of the Hussainsagar lake in the heart of the city has been earmarked for the cremation and the subsequent memorial to be raised in honour of the departed `Telugu bidda'.

Apart from senior Cabinet Ministers such as Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil and P. Chidambaram, Chief Ministers of several States, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Vilas Rao Deshmukh, Dharam Singh and N. D. Tiwari, will be among those who are expected to pay their last respects to the former Prime Minister. The AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, has deputed her senior party colleagues — Motilal Vora, Ashok Gehlot and A. R. Jayakumar — to represent her at the funeral.

The former Prime Minister, H D Deve Gowda, the Sri Lankan Minister, R. M. C. B. Ratna Nayake, and the Prime Minister's wife are among those expected to attend the last rites.

Narasimha Rao's body arrived by a special IAF plane at Begumpet airport where it was received with full military honours. The Governor, S. K. Shinde, the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, were among a large number of Central and State Ministers who were present at the airport. The Minister of State in the PMO, Prithviraj Chavan, accompanied the body as Dr. Manmohan Singh's representative.

YSR inspects site

The body was later taken in a gun carriage to Jubilee Hall where it was kept in State. Hundreds of mourners, including political leaders, filed past the body. The funeral procession will begin from the stately hall at 11.30 am and reach the cremation site ninety minutes later.

Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy inspected the cremation site and met officials and family members of Narasimha Rao to finalise the arrangements. Dr. Reddy instructed officials to construct a befitting memorial for the former Prime Minister. Three acres of land was originally identified for the proposed memorial but it was extended by one more acre at the request of family members.

Work was going on at a frenetic pace to level the ground and clear the site of bushes and shrubs.

A two-foot elevated platform would be constructed for the funeral pyre and a VVIP gallery put up nearby.

Separate enclosures would be arranged for the public and the press.

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