Arvind Kejriwal launches attack on BJP says renaming Ramlila Maidan won't fetch votes

Launching a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that a move to rename Ramlila Maidan after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee won't fetch the BJP votes but "changing the name of the Prime Minister might".

Citing a news report on the proposed renaming, Kejriwal tweeted, "Changing name of Ramlila Maidan etc 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."

Earlier in the day, reports surfaced that the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) had proposed that the name of the Ramlila Maidan in the capital be renamed as a tribute to Vajpayee.

However, the NDMC has denied that there was any proposal to rename Ramlila Maidan. Brushing off the news report, NDMC Mayor Adesh Gupta said that there was no such proposal. "There is no proposal to rename Ramlila Maidan after Vajpayeeji. All reports suggesting so are wrong," he said.

The mayor denied that some NDMC councillors approached the civic body or his office with a suggestion to rename the ground after Vajpayee. "No councillor has even made any such suggestion," Gupta said.

The historic Ramlila Maidan located close to the New Delhi railway station serves as a venue of political rallies and other events, besides hosting Ramleela every year.

Vajpayee passed away at the age of 93 on August 16 after being under the medical care of a team of doctors at AIIMS. There was a national outpouring of grief with messages of condolences coming in from the international community as well. 

There are several similar moves to pay tribute to the BJP stalwart who became the country's 10th Prime Minister. For instance, the Jharkhand government has proposed to rename several places in the state to honour Vajpayee. Chhattisgarh's new capital of Naya Raipur is set to be renamed Atal Nagar. Uttar Pradesh too had earlier decided to immerse the ashes of Vajpayee in all the holy rivers of the state, in a bid to pay respect to the five-time Member of Parliament (MP) from Lucknow.