Hyderabad, July 15: The Congress in Telangana on Wednesday said it would launch the centenary celebrations of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao on July 24. The announcement by the Congress came weeks after the TRS government unveiled the year-long centenary celebrations on his 99th birth anniversary on June 28 with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao making a strong pitch for conferring "Bharat Ratna" on the late leader.

State Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and its PV Narasimha Rao Centenary Celebrations Committee Chairman J. Geetha Reddy said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who as the Finance Minister in Rao's cabinet heralded the economic reforms, was likely to participate in the programme on July 24 through online.

Party leaders recently met Narasimha Rao's brother P V Manohar Rao and son P V Prabhakar Rao and daughter Vani Devi and discussed about the celebrations. Manohar Rao has agreed to be the Chief Patron of the committee for the centenary celebrations, they said in a statement here.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said Narasimha Rao's association with the Congress, his political ideology, his contributions to the economic reforms and foreign affairs and others would be highlighted through various programmes as part of the celebrations.

Hailing Narasimha Raos multi-faceted personality and stellar contributions to the country, Chief Minister Rao had on June 28 said he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with a delegation, and urge him to confer Bharat Ratna on the late leader, who hailed from Telangana.

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