NDMC dismisses reports of renaming Ramlila Maidan after Atal Bihari Vajpayee

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) on Saturday clarified that there was no proposal to rename Ramlila Maidan after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, even as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter.

North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta dismissed the reports, saying reports regarding the alleged proposal were wrong.

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"There is no proposal to rename Ramlila Maidan after Vajpayeeji. All reports suggesting so are wrong," Gupta said.

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

Kejriwal said that naming Ramlila Maidan ‘won’t fetch votes’ for BJP.

"Changing name of Ramlila Maidan 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," the Aam Aadmi Party chief tweeted.

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Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari also claimed that there was no question of changing name of Ramlila Maidan Ground.

"Some politically motivated people are creating the rumour that name of Ramlila Maidan will be changed. We are worshippers of Lord Ram, there is no question of changing name of Ramlila Maidan," PTI quoted Tiwari as saying.

The historic Ramlila Maidan, located just two kilometers from the BJP's headquarters, close to serves as a venue of political rallies and other events, besides hosting Ramleela every year. 

(With inputs from PTI)