P.V. Narasimha Rao: No nominees

Hyderabad, April 1: P.V. Narasimha Rao is dead but his money has been growing.

At last count, the former Prime Minister had a little less than Rs 1.4 lakh in fixed deposits.

Any claimants? None ? Rao didn’t name a nominee.

Oversight? Maybe. Or it could be that Rao, as famous for his pout as his penchant for perceived indecisiveness, forgot to make up his mind whom to leave behind the assets he had deposited in the Mulkanoor rural cooperative bank.

Rao was vice-president of the bank for six years till 1962 when he became a legislator.

A. Praveen Reddy, the current president of the bank, said Rs.1.38 lakh has “accrued” in the late leader’s name against his “deposits” and in interests.

Asked why the amount was not handed over to Rao’s family, the bank president had earlier said “rules forbid us to hand over (the assets) to anyone other than the nominee mentioned by the depositor”. In Rao’s case, he hadn’t even mentioned as nominee his wife Satyavatamma, who died before him.

However, the bank’s governing body recently authorised payment of the money to any one family member, preferably the elder son. “P.V. Narasimha Rao contributed a lot for the development of the bank and we are all grateful to him and his leadership,” the bank’s president said.

Despite the authorisation, none of Rao’s sons has come forward. “Although we have written to the family members to come and accept the amount accrued to P.V. Narasimha Rao’s account, none of them has so far,” Reddy said.

Nor has anyone from the family claimed documents for 9.74 acres that Rao owned in Vangara, his native village in Karimnagar district, Reddy added.

While Rao’s money lies unclaimed, a memorial the Andhra Pradesh government has planned for the late leader on the banks of Hyderabad’s Hussainsagar lake is yet to take shape.

The land has been allotted but work hasn’t started yet.