P. V. Narasimha Rao

P. V. Narasimha Rao was a member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly from 1957 to 1977.¹ He was the state’s Chief Minister from 1971 to 1973, during the dispute over the Mulki rules.¹² He later went into national politics and became Prime Minister of India.¹

This page rests mainly on two official records.¹² One is the Lok Sabha’s obituary reference (a tribute read in the House after a death) of February 2005.¹ The other is a Home Ministry speech in the Lok Sabha in February 1973.²

In the state assembly and government, 1957–1971

According to the Lok Sabha’s obituary reference, he entered public life before independence and took part in the freedom struggle.¹ In the state assembly he sat on the Public Accounts Committee from 1958 to 1960.¹ He was a member of its Committee on Official Languages from 1958 to 1961.¹

He then held these departments in the state government:¹

• law and information, 1962–1964
• law and endowments (religious trusts), 1964–1967
• health and medicine, 1967
• education, 1968–1971¹

Chief Minister, 1971–1973

He became Chief Minister in 1971 and held the office until 1973.¹ On 3 October 1972 the Supreme Court held that the Mulki rules were still in force in the Telangana area.³ These were the residence rules of the old Hyderabad State for government jobs.³

According to the Home Ministry, agitations then began in the Andhra region of the state.² In some places there was violence, with loss of life and damage to public property.² The leaders of the state could not agree among themselves.⁴

The Chief Minister and his colleagues then asked the Central Government to decide all matters about the Mulki rules.⁴ The Prime Minister announced the Centre’s decisions in the Lok Sabha on 27 November 1972.⁴ They are described on the page Andhra State & Andhra Pradesh.

The agitation soon grew again, mainly in the Andhra region.² On 17 January 1973 the Governor reported that Narasimha Rao had resigned, with his council of ministers.² The Governor found that no other party could form a government.² On 18 January 1973 the President took over the government of the state (President’s rule).²

In national politics, 1977–1997

He was a member of the Lok Sabha from 1977 to 1997.¹ He was elected from these constituencies:¹

• Hanamkonda in Andhra Pradesh, in the Sixth and Seventh Lok Sabhas
• Ramtek in Maharashtra, in the Eighth and Ninth
• Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh, in the Tenth
• Berhampur in Orissa (now Odisha), in the Eleventh¹

In 1978 he was chairman of the Lok Sabha’s Public Accounts Committee.¹ He held these Union ministries:¹

• external affairs, 1980–1984 and 1988–1989
• home affairs and planning, 1984
• defence, 1984–1985
• human resource development, 1985–1988
• health and family welfare, 1986–1988¹

After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, he was asked to lead the country as Prime Minister.¹

Writer and translator

The obituary reference says that he knew many languages and wrote both prose and poetry.¹ He translated the Telugu novel Veyi Padagalu into Hindi as Sahasr Phan.¹ The title means “a thousand hoods”, and the novel had won the Jnanpith award.¹

After he left politics he wrote a book called The Insider.¹ He died at New Delhi on 23 December 2004, at the age of 83.¹

Footnotes

1. Lok Sabha Debates, 25 February 2005, obituary references, PDF p. 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³

2. Lok Sabha Debates, 28 February 1973, statutory resolution on the Proclamation in relation to Andhra Pradesh, speech of the Minister of State for Home Affairs, cols. 230–233 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

3. Lok Sabha Debates, 21 November 1972, calling attention on the Supreme Court judgment on the Mulki Rules, statement of the Minister of State for Home Affairs, cols. 199–201 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

4. Lok Sabha Debates, 27 November 1972, “Statement re. Mulki Rules” by the Prime Minister, cols. 248–249 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³