Telangana Assembly pays homage to Manmohan Singh, urges Centre to confer Bharat Ratna

 The Telangana Legislative Assembly on Monday passed a resolution unanimously urging the central government to confer the Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Soon after Speaker G Prasad Kumar convened the Assembly at 10 am, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy moved a motion to condole the death of Manmohan Singh and express gratitude for the role played by the late leader in the formation of Telangana state in 2014.

After the discussion, cutting across party lines, the House unanimously passed the resolution requesting the Centre to confer the highest civilian award on Singh.

The Assembly also observed a two-minute silence in respect of the late leader.

Leader of Opposition K Chandrasekhar Rao did not attend the session.

Manmohan Singh (92), the architect of India's economic reforms, died at AIIMS, New Delhi, on December 26.

Earlier, while moving the resolution, Revanth Reddy said the demise of the former PM is an "irreparable loss for the country".

Reddy mentioned several landmark legislations, such as the Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), the Right to Information Act, and the Land Acquisition Act, which were introduced by the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh.

Asserting that the former PM was a great leader who fulfilled the aspirations of the people of Telangana under his leadership, Reddy said the state government has decided to install a statue of Manmohan Singh in the financial district in Hyderabad.

Deputy CM Bhatti also participated in the discussion, saying he supports the motion moved by the CM.

On behalf of BRS, its working president and MLA K T Rama Rao, supporting the resolution, said Singh was "the silent architect of modern India".

He requested the CM that the Assembly should also pass a resolution urging the Centre to set up a memorial for former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in the national capital.

BJP floor leader Maheshwar Reddy said his party also supported the condolence motion.

Reddy made certain comments about Rahul Gandhi, which Legislative Minister Sridhar Babu objected to.

The minister requested the Speaker to expunge the BJP leader’s comments.