The TDP-led alliance government in Andhra Pradesh has been taking several steps to restore TDP’s founder and former chief minister N T Rama Rao’s legacy in the state. Soon after formation of the government, it has taken steps to restore NTR name to various schemes and institutions that were removed by the previous YS Jaganmohan Reddy government.
Likewise, it has restored NTR’s name to Health Sciences University in Vijayawada. The university was originally established by NT Rama Rao’s government during 80s, but during Jaganmohan Reddy’s regime the name was changed into Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s University of Health Sciences. But earlier this month, the AP Assembly passed a bill restoring NT Rama Rao’s name to the university.
Now, the state government has proposed to name the Gannavaram Airport in Vijayawada after Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao. To this extent, a proposal was sent to the central government. This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Muralidhar Mohol. He said this in response to a question in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Muralidhar Mohol revealed that the AP government has sent proposals suggesting the names of two other airports in the state along with naming the Gannavaram airport after NTR. Renigunta Airport in Tirupati has been proposed to be named Sri Venkateswara Airport. He also said that the name of Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy name has been suggested to Orvakallu Airport in Kurnool.
The Union Minister said that 10 states across the country have sent proposals for changing the names of 22 airports. It was mentioned that Bihar wanted to change Darbhanga Airport to Vidyapati Airport. Apart from AP, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Maharashtra are also in the list of sent proposals.
It may be recalled that earlier as Chief Minister of combined state of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu had proposed to name the Shamshabad Airport after NT Rama Rao, which was accepted by the Vajpayee government at the center. However, by the time of inauguration of the Airport, the then Chief Minister Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy changed the name as `Rajiv Gandhi International Airport’. This led to political uproar at that time.
