New Delhi: On Saturday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal joined Atal Behari Vajpayee’s niece in her attack on the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) for using the former Prime Minister’s name after his death for political gains.
Amid proposals of renaming landmarks after Vajpayee, including the reported move to re-christen the iconic Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, Mr Kejriwal expressed his disapproval with a tweet saying that “such an attempt won’t fetch the BJP votes, but changing the name of the Prime Minister might.”
“Changing name of Ramlila Maidan after Vajpayeeji will not fetch votes. BJP should change the name of the Prime Minister to get some votes because people are not voting on his name,” the AAP chief tweeted.
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and the mayor of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Adesh Kumar Gupta, have denied any such plan. Mr Tiwari said there was no question of renaming the Ramlila Maidan and some people were just “trying to create controversy” around it.
“It’s a deliberate attempt to spread lies,” he said.
Ramlila Maidan, which is about the size of two football fields and just 2 km from BJP’s headquarters, has been the go-to place for protests and demonstrations. The address is also popular for the grand Ramlila it plays host to every year.
