Telangana polls: Yogi promises to rename Karimnagar to Karipuram if BJP wins

Hyderabad, Dec 6: As if the renaming of towns and places in Uttar Pradesh was not enough, Yogi Adityanath has now promised that if the BJP comes to power in Telangana, it would rename Karimnagar district to 'Karipuram'. He also reiterated his earlier claim that the BJP will rename Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar.

"In order to respect the sentiments of people of Telangana, BJP will rename Karimnagar to Karipuram," he was quoted as saying at a rally in Karimnagar.

During his election campaign in Hyderabad on December 2, Adityanath had called upon voters in Telangana to elect a BJP government in the state if they wanted to see Hyderabad city transform into 'Bhagyanagar'.

The Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh earlier this announced that the ancient city of Allahabad would now be called Prayagraj. Adityanath, on the eve of Diwali, announced that the name of Faizabad district would be changed to Ayodhya.

A BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh, Deomani Dwivedi, had in November demanded that the name of Sultanpur be changed to Kushpura.

Opposition parties have strongly criticised the Adityanath government's move to change names of the places. According to PTI, CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy had said changing names of palces was the BJP government's ploy to cover up its failure in governance. Reddy also said that the name change reflects the BJP's anti-Muslim feelings.

Yogi government's name changing spree drew strong criticism not just from the opposition, but also from NDA ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP).

The name changing-spree has in fact spread to other BJP ruled states and there were speculations that Ahmedabad's name could be changed to Karnavati. Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel had made a statement hinting that he was in favour of it.