A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Telangana has said that the name of Hyderabad will be changed if the party wins Telangana Assembly elections 2018. The BJP MLA from Goshamahal Assembly constituency, Raja Singh, said that name of Hyderabad will be changed to Bhagyanagar if the party is voted to power.

He further claimed that the BJP will also change the names of Secunderabad and Karimanagar.

Speaking to news agency ANI, the MLA said, “Earlier, Hyderabad was Bhagyanagar and in 1590 Quli Qutub Shah came to Hyderabad, he changed Bhagyanagar to Hyderabad. At that time many Hindus were attacked, many temples destroyed. We are planning to rename Hyderabad.

Exhuming confidence of a BJP win in the state Assembly elections, Raja Singh further said, “In Telangana, BJP will win in majority and then our first aim will be developing the state and the second objective will be renaming Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar. We will also change the names of Secunderabad and Karimnagar.”

This comes just days after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath renamed Allahabad as Prayag Raj. Later during Deepotsav 2018 celebrations in Ayodhya, he announced that Faizabad district will be known as Ayodhya.

Not just in Uttar Pradesh, but clamour for change of name of city has also grown in BJP-ruled Gujarat. According to Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, the name of Ahmedabad will be changed to Karnavati if the government manages to get the required support to clear all legal hurdles.

On Thursday, the Shiv Sena also reiterated its demand for renaming two towns in Maharashtra – Aurangabad and Osmanabad.

“The demand for renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad to Sambhaji Nagar and Dharashiv, respectively, is not new with Shiv Sena,” Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande had told news agency ANI.

“This is our long-standing demand and this has been raised several times. But Congress and NCP opposed it to appease the Muslim voters,” she further said.