PV Narasimha Rao Date of Birth

Congress leader PV Narasimha Rao born on 28 June 1921.

PV Narasimha Rao Birthplace

He was born in a in the village of Vangara in Karimnagar District, now in Telangana.

PV Narasimha Rao Caste

He was born in a Niyogi Brahmin family.

PV Narasimha Rao photos

PV Narasimha Rao Languages

Rao’s mother tongue was Telugu, and he had an excellent command of Marathi. In addition to eight other Indian languages (Hindi, Oriya, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil and Urdu), he spoke English, French, Arabic, Spanish, German and Persian.

PV Narasimha Rao Family

His father, Pamulaparthi Sitarama Rao, and mother, Pamulaparthi Rukmini (Rukminamma), hailed from agrarian families.

Popularly known as PV, he completed part of his primary education in Katkuru village in Karimnagar district by staying in his relative Gabbeta Radhakishan Rao’s house and studying for his Bachelor’s degree in the Arts college at the Osmania University.

Soon P.V. Narasimha Rao was part of Vande Matram movement in late 1930s in the Hyderabad state. He later went on to Hislop College, now under Nagpur University, where he completed a Master’s degree in law.

Narasimha Rao married Satyamma Rao, who died in 1970. They had three sons and five daughters.

PV Narasimha Rao son

His eldest son late P.V. Rangarao was an education minister in Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy’s cabinet and MLA from Hanamakonda Assembly Constituency, in Warangal District for two terms.

His second son, Late P.V. Rajeswara Rao, was a Member of Parliament of the 11th Lok Sabha (15 May 1996 – 4 December 1997) from Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency.

PV Narasimha Rao Party

Narasimha Rao was an active freedom fighter during the Indian Independence movement and joined full-time politics after independence as a member of the Indian National Congress.

Later people remembered his tenure as Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh even today for his land reforms and strict implementation of land ceiling acts in Telangana region.

President’s rule had to be imposed to counter the Jai Andhra movement during his tenure. Later he rose to national prominence in 1972 for handling several diverse portfolios, most significantly Home, Defence and Foreign Affairs, in the cabinets of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

In fact, it is speculated that he was in the running for the post of India’s President along with Zail Singh in 1982.

Later Rao very nearly retired from politics in 1991. It was the assassination of the Congress President Rajiv Gandhi that persuaded him to make a comeback.

As the Congress had won the largest number of seats in the 1991 elections, he had an opportunity to head the minority government as Prime Minister.

He was the first person outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to serve as Prime Minister for five continuous years. The first PM to hail from the state of Andhra Pradesh, and also the first from southern India

PV Narasimha Rao Cabinet

P. V. Narasimha Rao took over as Prime Minister in June, and roped in Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister. The Narasimha Rao government ushered in several reforms that are collectively termed as liberalisation.

The impact of these reforms may be gauged from the fact that total foreign investment in India grew from a minuscule US $132 million in 1991–92 to $5.3 billion in 1995–96.

Later Rao began industrial policy reforms with the manufacturing sector. He slashed industrial licensing, leaving only 18 industries subject to licensing.

His cabinet included Sharad Pawar, himself a strong contender for the Prime Minister’s post, as Defence Minister. Soon he also broke a convention by appointing a non-political economist and future prime minister, Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister.

Later he appointed Subramanian Swamy, an Opposition party member as the Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade.

This has been the only instance that an Opposition Party member was given a Cabinet rank post by the ruling party. He also sent Opposition leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to represent India in a UN meeting at Geneva.

Later Life and Death

In spite of significant achievements in a difficult situation, in the 1996 general elections the Indian electorate voted out Rao’s Congress Party. Soon, Sonia Gandhi’s coterie forced Mr. Rao to step down as Party President.

Sitaram Kesri replaced him. Later Rao suffered a heart attack on 9 December 2004, and his family took him to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where he died 14 days later at the age of 83.

His family wanted the body cremated in Delhi. But it is alleged that Sonia Gandhi’s closest aides ensured that the body was moved to Hyderabad.

Books on PV Narasimha Rao

The Great Suicide written pseudonymously (1990)

India and the Asia-Pacific: Forging a New Relationship (1994)

The Insider (1998)

A Long Way: Selected Speeches (2002)