UP Elections 2022: State government likely to rename Yamuna Expressway after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee

By Team Newsable | First Published Nov 23, 2021, 11:13 AM IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and top BJP leaders will be present at the event, where a formal announcement regarding renaming of the expressway may be made.

Ahead of next year's Assembly elections and the political slugfest over expressways in Uttar Pradesh the Yogi Adityanath-led state government is likely to rename the Yamuna Expressway after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. According to a report in Hindustan Times' sister publication Livehindustan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to announce the new name on November 25, at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Noida International Airport in Jewar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and top BJP leaders will be present at the event, where a formal announcement regarding renaming of the expressway may be made.

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According to a report in India Today, a senior BJP leader, on the condition of anonymity was quoted saying, “The decision [to rename the expressway] has been taken to give a token of respect to the most loved politicians in India. AB Vajpayee is respected by all, across party lines, and the renaming of the expressway will remind future generations about his greatness.”

Also read: Uttarakhand Elections 2022: BJP begins door-to-door 'Har Ghar BJP, Ghar Ghar BJP' campaign

If indeed renamed after the late former PM, the expressway will be the second project in Uttar Pradesh to bear the name of the co-founder of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Nearly three months after Vajpayee's demise, in November 2018 the UP government renamed the Ekana International Cricket Stadium in the state capital Lucknow as ‘Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Cricket Stadium.’

Since March 2017, the present BJP government which came to power in UP has changed names of several towns and railway stations, including renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj and Faizabad as Ayodhya. In its most recent move, on October 23, the ruling dispensation rechristened the Faizabad Railway Junction as Ayodhya Cantt.

The foundation-laying ceremony of the Noida airport, a key infrastructure project of the Yogi Adityanath government, comes ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election to be held early next year.

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