Assembly for status quo on airport name

Takes objection to Centre not consulting the Telangana government

November 22, 2014 12:51 am | Updated 12:51 am IST - HYDERABAD:

Both Houses of Telangana legislature on Friday adopted resolutions urging the Centre to withdraw its decision to name the domestic terminal of Hyderabad airport after former Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao and instead retain the name of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for the entire airport.

The Assembly and Council, by separate resolutions, expressed concern that the Centre separated the domestic terminal from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and named it after NTR. They took objection that the Centre did not even consult the Telangana govenment before taking the decision.

The issue was taken up by both Houses out of turn, setting aside regular business. Barring the Telugu Desam and BJP, all parties supported the resolution in the Assembly but it was only TDP that opposed it in the Upper House since the BJP is not represented there. Strangely, the Assembly Speaker S. Madhusudhana Chary announced that the resolution was passed unanimously amidst protest by both parties.

Moving the resolution in the Assembly, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said it was an “unnatural development” because the trend in Telangana State was to replace name boards of Andhra icons with those of Telangana. No doubt, NTR was a good actor but what was objectionable to the people of Telangana was that he hailed from Andhra. The name of Rajiv Gandhi was appropriate for the airport because he was a Prime Minister.

Mr. Rao took exception to the separation of domestic terminal from the airport and giving it a name.

He asked Andhra Pradesh government to propose names for airports at Vijayawada, Vizag, Tirupati and Rajahmundry after NTR.

The TDP floor leader E. Dayakar Rao said the domestic terminal was identified with NTR when the airport functioned from Begumpet. The name was removed when the airport shifted to Shamshabad.

G. Kishan Reddy of BJP said the name of NTR was selected by the A.B. Vajpayee-led NDA government when the airport was conceived at Shamshabad but it was dropped by the UPA government. He defended the name change because all airports in the country were named after local heroes.

Members of TRS and Congress stalled the proceedings of the Council on the issue when it met after five days of recess.

The House debated the resolution after it was introduced by Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao amidst a walkout by two members of TDP.

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