Names of a number of cities and railway stations have been changed in the recent past
Hyderabad will be renamed "Bhagyanagar" if the BJP comes to power in the December 7 Telangana election, a legislator of the party said today. Raja Singh said his party will also change the names of Secunderabad and Karimnagar.
"Earlier, Hyderabad was Bhagyanagar and in 1590 Quli Qutub Shah came to Hyderabad, he changed Bhagyanagar to Hyderabad... We are planning to rename Hyderabad," said Raja Singh, who represents the Goshamahal assembly constituency.
"Our aim is, when our Bharatiya Janata Party government comes to power in Telangana, our first (priority) is development, second is these names should be changed. They should be named after great people, those who worked for our nation, righteousness and Telangana."
Mr Singh said cities named after Mughals and Nizams would be rechristened.
The lawmaker adds to the name-changing frenzy in states ruled by his party, mainly Uttar Pradesh, where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj and Faizabad as Ayodhya.
The iconic Mughalsarai railway station was renamed Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Junction.
Ahmedabad in Gujarat is also likely to be renamed "Karnavati", the state's chief minister Vijay Rupani has said. The BJP government has sought legal advice on the name-change.