UP government likely to keep changing name of cities

Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday indicated that the state government will keep up the spree of changing the names of the cities across the state.

"We did what we felt was good. We renamed Mughal Sarai as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhayay Nagar, Allahabad as Prayagraj and Faizabad as Ayodhya. Where there is a need, the government will take the steps required," Yogi Adityanath said.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently, changed the names of Faizabad and Allahabad. On Friday, Agra North lawmaker Jagan Prasad Garg said that Agra should be renamed as Agravan or Agarwal, while controversial legislator from Sardhana Sangeet Som wants the name of Muzaffarnagar to be changed to Laxmi Nagar.

However, BJP allies have shown disapproval to the renaming spree by the state government.

Shiv Sena, the BJP's ally in Maharashtra, said that renaming cities in Uttar Pradesh was nothing but a "lollipop" to woo voters ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.

"The BJP promised a Ram Temple but all it has given is a new name to Faizabad and a (proposed) statue. This is a lollipop given by the BJP in view of the upcoming general elections," the party said in the editorial in its mouthpiece Saamna.