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NTR is bone of contention between TS, AP
The charismatic NTR is undoubtedly a very popular leader who took the undivided Andhra Pradesh by storm and came to power within nine months of floating a regional party.
The Centre seems to have raked up a fresh controversy between the two States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by issuing an order to name the domestic terminal of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad as NT Rama Rao terminal.
The charismatic NTR is undoubtedly a very popular leader who took the undivided Andhra Pradesh by storm and came to power within nine months of floating a regional party. Among his revolutionary administrative decisions was the landmark move to do away with Patel and Patwari systems which had benefitted the Telangana region. Against this backdrop, the latest decision of the Union Government may well boomerang on the authorities considering that sentiments are running high and Andhra Pradesh itself has cease to exist in its original 1956 November 1 geographical form. Tagging NTR’s name to the airport, which is the nerve-centre of Telangana State, many apprehend is nothing short of rubbing salt on the wounds of the natives.
Cutting across party lines, all the elected representatives on Friday expressed the view in the Legislature that if at all the Centre wanted to name the domestic terminal, it should have named after a Telugu bidda from Telangana like PV Narasimha Rao. The fact remains that the longest expressway has been named after the former prime minister.
They also raised a pertinent question as to why the Andhra Pradesh government did not think of perpetuating NTR’s memory by urging the Centre to name the International airport at Visakhapatnam or the smaller one at Gannavaram as NTR airport.
What is intriguing is that though Vizag airport has been operational for long, so far the successive government did not see the need to name them after any leader. At one point of time the name of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were considered by the Congress Government but no decision was taken.
Soon after the state Assembly passed a resolution asking the Centre to maintain status quo and reconsider its decision, the Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju, a staunch loyalist of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, tried to defend the decision of naming the domestic terminal at Hyderabad International Airport after Naidu’s father-in-law, saying the decision was taken in 1999. Asked about his opinion on the resolution, Raju said that when a state government raises an issue, the Centre would look into it "according to merits".
Meanwhile, separately Prathipati Pulla Rao, P Sunitha, P Manikyala Rao and K Achhanaidu took exception to the objections raised by K Chandrasekhara Rao.
They claimed that NTR had brought pride to the very identity of Telugu speaking people of both the states and had strived for restoring self-respect of Telugus on the global spectrum. The center’s act of naming the domestic terminal with NTR’s name was no more than correcting a mistake that was committed by the Congress, they contended.
The Bard-of-Avon must be turning in his grave as in the prevailing circumstances everything seems to be in the name.
