Gujarat Cong, BJP fight it out over building name

Gujarat Cong, BJP fight it out over building name
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

AHMEDABAD, JAN 4: After Rajkot, it is now the turn of Ahmedabad to witness a fight between the BJP and the Congress over naming of a building. While the ruling Congress in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) wants to name the newly constructed north zone building in Naroda after Rajiv Gandhi, the BJP favours the late Ravishankar Maharaj, a social reformer.

The Congress, which replaced the BJP as the ruling party in the AMC in the recent elections, has already decided to name the zone office after Rajiv Gandhi. On Wednesday, BJP leaders, including city president Maya Kodnani and AMC leader of opposition Dharmendra Shah, met the mayor and commissioner and handed over a memorandum, demanding that the building be named Ravishankar Maharaj Bhawan.

Kodnani and Shah told reporters that it was appropriate to name the north zone building after Ravishankar Maharaj because its foundation stone was laid during BJP rule. Reacting to the demand, Mayor Himmatsinh Patel was at his stinging best.

``The BJP is left with no issue and no direction and so has come up with this political stunt,'' he said. The building will be named Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan and the civic body has also written to Sonia Gandhi to inaugurate the building, he said.

Patel further said that if the BJP was so concerned about Ravishankar Maharaj, why it did not name a bridge, building or garden after him when it was in power. ``We will name some structure after Ravishankar Maharaj, but definitely not the north zone building, which is the best building in the entire north zone,'' the Mayor stressed.

The Mayor also announced that the city will soon have statues of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. ``The party is working on that. The statues of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi will be installed in the city very soon,'' he said.