Photo By: Amit Chattopadhyay
What’s in name? Rose still smells sweet, even if you call it by any name. This is famous Shakespearean argument, which no member in Telangana Assembly agrees with. International Airport at Shamshabad doesn’t lose its majesty, though it’s not named after any icon-Rajiv Gandhi or NTR.
When Congress had the privilege of being in power both in the centre and the erstwhile undivided state of Andhra Pradesh, It had the opportunity to name this aerodrome. As the party suffered from sycophancy, it was left with little choice of names and confined only to either Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi.
To appease Sonia Gandhi straight away, YSR, the then CM, settled on the second choice. But the TDP had every reason to say no. They insisted on giving domestic terminal NTR’s name, as the old airport had been called with his name.
By taking advantage of its convenient presence in the Union cabinet( Ashok Gajapathi Raju is the Minister for Civil Aviation), TDP could convince the Centre to rename the domestic terminal of the International Airport and call it as NTR domestic Terminal. Barring the TDP, all other parties opposed this move.
Here the question arises: What’s in name? Answer: Vote is in name? Yes. As GHMC polls are fast approaching, even a name turns highly inflammable.
Satish Chandar