Hyderabad, Dec 23 (IANS): Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Saturday paid tributes to former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao on his 19th death anniversary.

They along with several ministers and family members of Narasimha Rao visited PV Gnana Bhoomi on the banks of Hussain Sagar lake here to pay floral tributes.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by ministers D. Sridhar Babu, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Seethakka.

Revanth Reddy, in his post on ‘X’, called Narasimha Rao ‘flag of our glory’ and ‘son of Telangana soil’.

The Governor called the former Prime Minister a great son of Telangana soil, an erudite scholar, a statesman and administrator par excellence.

Popular as PV, Narasimha Rao hailed from Vangara in Karimnagar district of Telangana. He was India’s first and only Telugu Prime Minister. He also had the distinction of being the first Prime Minister outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to complete a full five-year term.

PV, who also served as the Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh and as a Central minister, was known as a scholar, statesman, a polyglot and an author.

PV, who was first elected to the Parliament in 1972, held several cabinet posts under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi including Foreign Minister from 1980 to 1984.

Described as political ‘Chanakya’ by many, PV managed to complete the full term despite being just short of a majority in Parliament.