New Delhi: AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday demanded that the Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi international airport should be renamed after TD founder N.T. Rama Rao. Talking to reporters after meeting Union home minister Rajnath Singh, Mr Naidu said that the airport was originally named after the late AP chief minister, but the name was changed when the airport was shifted to Shamshabad by the then Congress who named it after Rajiv Gandhi.
He said, “The Centre has to do it. This has been our demand.” The TD objected to the change in name in 2008. Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had said recently that the airport would be renamed after NTR.
The CM also demanded that his state be granted special status for 15 years. Pointing to the BJP manifesto, which had mentioned the grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh he said, “The BJP has also said in its election manifesto that the status of special state should be given to AP for 10 years. I have discussed the issue with the home minister and he said that the Centre will look into it sympathetically.” Mr Naidu called on Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goyal, Venkaiah Naidu, Dharmendra Pradhan, Smriti Irani, Uma Bharathi and Sadananda Gowda in connection with projects in his state.
Naidu, who addressed the media after meeting Power Minister Piyush Goyal said that he would strive to make his state a role model in the power sector by providing uninterrupted electricity to one and all at affordable rates.
