The Telangana State Legislative Assembly on Friday passed a resolution opposing the renaming of the domestic terminal of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport after former united Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister late N T Rama Rao.
Except the Telugu Desam Party and the BJP, all parties supported the resolution moved by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
"We don't want Andhra leaders' names in Telangana. When the public are demanding of us to remove even the present names here, it is unfair to have a new name (NTR) for the Shamsabad domestic terminal," KCR said.
Accusing the Centre of taking a unilateral decision, he said that the Centre should have consulted the Telangana Government before deciding to rename the RGIA's domestic terminal.
Targeting the Andhra Pradesh Government, he said that it could name all four airports in AP after NTR. But the TRS Government would name projects in Telangana after Telangana leaders.
Supporting the resolution, the Congress MLAs accused the AP leaders of trying to continue the domination despite the bifurcation of the State. They demanded that Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju withdraw the proposal of renaming the domestic terminal.
While the BJP demanded that the airport be named after Komaram Bheem or P V Narasimha Rao, the MIM asked the government to rename it after Hazrath Baba Sharfuddin, a Muslim saint who lived in that area. The YSR Congress party too demanded that the airport be named after Komaram Bheem.
Earlier, the Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes over the issue. As soon as the House met on Friday, the TRS MLAs lodged a strong protest and demanded that the House discuss the renaming of the airport by setting aside the other agenda. The Speaker gave his nod and asked Congress MLA T Jeevan Reddy to initiate the debate.
Intervening on the issue, the Chief Minister proposed that the House pass a resolution opposing the Centre's move. (INN)
filed in:Protests, Telangana Assembly, Rajiv Gandhi Shamshabad International Airport, KCR, N T Rama Rao