Hyderabad, Dec. 25: Twenty-one guns boomed to bid farewell to P.V. Narasimha Rao as his eldest son lit the funeral pyre on the banks of the Hussainsagar lake.

But the former Prime Minister?s last hours in his home state followed yesterday?s Delhi script. His body, which was to have been taken to Gandhi Bhavan, the Andhra Pradesh Congress headquarters, was kept in a public hall last night.

In Delhi, the army gun carriage carrying his body could not make it past the main gate of the party?s Akbar Road headquarters. The carriage was kept at the gate for nearly 40 minutes as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and several ministers paid their last respects and laid wreaths.

The funeral, which was marked by unruly scenes, was put off by over an hour because of the delayed arrival of the Prime Minister. Immediately after Singh paid his floral tributes, lower-level leaders of the Congress made a beeline. VIPs like Maharashtra governor S.M. Krishna, Karnataka chief minister Dharam Singh, chief minister of Uttaranchal .D. Tiwari and defence minister Pranab Mukherjee had to push their way towards the pyre to place a piece of sandalwood.

Yet, when Narasimha Rao?s body lay in Jubilee Hall last night, there were hardly 10 people around after 11.30, according to a local daily.

?Not only the designated ministerial members but also officials had departed,? said K. Venkat Reddy, a senior Congress leader and a former associate of Narasimha Rao from Karimnagar.

A central minister from Andhra said state Congress leaders kept their distance, taking a cue from the ?signals of indifference? from the high command.