"I propose the renaming of Mysuru airport to Tipu Sultan airport."
The proposal of renaming the Mysuru airport after Tipu Sultan, a Muslim ruler, by Congress MLA Prasad Abbayya has drawn sharp criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly.
Mr Abbayya who is MLA from Hubballi-Dharwad (East) came up with the proposal during a discussion about the state government writing to the Centre to change the names of airports.
Mr Abbayya said, "I propose the renaming of Mysuru airport to Tipu Sultan airport."
This left BJP MLA angered and they stood up to protest and objected to the decision, triggering heated arguments between both sides. However, the Karnataka Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution recommending the union government to name four airports after prominent personalities.
According to the resolution, the Hubballi airport will be named after Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna, Belagavi airport after Kittur Rani Chennamma, Shivamogga airport after Rashtrakavi Dr KV Puttappa (Kuvempu) and Vjiayapura airport after Sri Jagadjyoti Basaveshwara.
Infrastructure Development Minister MB Patil said the new names for the airports will be recommended to the union government for approval.
Earlier, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was speaking at an event on October 13 when he said that Kittur Rani Channamma and Tipu Sultan are inspirations to fight for self-respect.
"Kittur Rani Channamma and Tipu Sultan are inspirations to fight for self-respect. Kittur Channamma was a fierce queen who challenged the huge British army with her small army. Kittur Utsava and Jayantsova were started during my first term as Chief Minister, to introduce her courage and ideals to the youth and today's generation," the Chief Minister said.
Tipu Sultan has been a polarising figure in Karnataka, when he was Chief Minister in 2016 Siddarmiah had decided to celebrate Tipu Sultan's birth day as "Tipu Jayanti" on November 10.
This decision was scrapped after the BJP came to power in the state in 2019.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)