Rao to be cremated in Hyderabad

Indian defence officials follow the body of former Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao wrapped in the tricolor as it is carried towards a waiting aircraft at Palam Airport, in New Delhi yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

The veteran Congress leader, seen as the man who initiated the path-breaking economic reforms in the country in the early nineties, passed away Thursday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences after a prolonged battle with cardiac diseases.

The decision to change the cremation site was taken after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had talks with Narasimha Rao's sons, P V Ranga Rao and P V Rajeswara Rao, and other family members on Thursday night in New Delhi.

Though the family had earlier decided to perform his last rites in the national capital, the chief minister convinced the family to cremate him in Hyderabad.