Andhra to name district after Indira Gandhi

Hyderabad - Andhra Pradesh will rename Medak district, some 50 km from here, after former prime minister Indira Gandhi, Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said on Thursday. The new name of the district will be Indiramma district.

"The government has already started the exercise to rename the district," Rosaiah announced during the 125th anniversary celebrations of Congress, held at Sangareddy town of Medak district, in Telangana region.

Congress leaders from the district had demanded the change in name.

Indira Gandhi was elected from Medak parliamentary constituency in 1980. She defeated the then Janata Party candidate S. Jaipal Reddy by a whopping margin of over 2 lakh votes, that too without visiting the district even once for campaigning.

If the government goes ahead with the exercise, Medak will be the third district to be renamed in recent years after political leaders.

In 2008, Nellore district in coastal Andhra was named after Potti Sriramulu, who died in 1952 after a fast-unto-death, demanding that a separate state be carved out for Telugus from the then Madras state. It was renamed as Potti Sriramulu Nellore district.

Kadapa district in Rayalaseema region was renamed as YSR district in July this year, after former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash in 2009.

by IANS , November 18: