BJP protests over ‘renaming of street’ after Tipu Sultan

BENGALURU: Claiming that a state minister had asked for a street here to be renamed after 18th century ruler Tipu Sultan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other right-wing outfits staged protests outside the offices of the city’s municipality Monday.

Law and Panchayat Raj Minister Krishna Byregowda has written to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commissioner to name the Bellahalli Cross after Tipu Sultan, who the BJP considers a “religious bigot”, the protesters claimed.

However, Mayor Gangambika Mallikarjun had recently clarified that no such letter was received from Byregowda, and even if such a proposal were to come, it would first be tabled in the corporation council.

Waving saffron flags and holding banners and placards, the activists of the Hindu Jagarana Vedike and others, supported by the BJP, held demonstrations outside the Byatarayanapura and Yelahanka offices of the BBMP in the Karnataka capital.

When contacted, a BBMP spokesperson told PTI that no such proposal had been received by the commissioner’s office for renaming the road.

Speaking to reporters, BJP MLC Ashwathnarayana claimed that local residents were opposed to the move and instead wanted the road to be named after Basavalingappa, a former Congress leader.