The centenary birthday celebrations of PV Narasimha Rao began in Hyderabad on Sunday, with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao paying tribute to the late former Prime Minister.
On his 99th birthday, Chandrasekhar Rao-led government hosted the event, with the CM as the chief guest, at PV Ghat, Necklace Road.
Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Friday, as per a press note, had said that the state government has decided to orgse year-long birth centenary celebrations from June 28 and also urged the NRIs to orgse various programmes in the countries they reside in to participate in the celebrations.
Earlier on Sunday morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his 66th episode of 'Mann Ki Baat', paid tributes to the former Prime Minister on his birth anniversary remembering him as one of the "most experienced leaders of India, who always raised his voice against injustice and led the country through a critical phase."
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu also remembered the former PM and recalled the "pioneering role played by him in initiating economic reforms at a critical juncture when the Indian economy was on the brink of collapse."
Meanwhile, P Chidambaram said, "He was the person who boldly pulled India out of an outdated mindset and put the country firmly on the path of becoming a prosperous and self-reliant nation."
"If it were in my power, I would name a university whether existing or new, after PV Narasimha Rao to focus on the study of the old PPE -- Politics, Philosophy and Economics -- subjects in which the former PM was a scholar and practitioner," Chidambaram added.
PV Narasimha Rao was born on June 28, 1921, in Telangana (then Nizam's Hyderabad state) and passed away on December 23, 2004, in New Delhi.
( With inputs from ANI )