Hyderabad: BJP leader Raja Singh has said that one of the aims of the party, if elected to power in Telangana, would be to change the name of Hyderabad and other cities.

Singh said that the names of cities including capital Hyderabad will be renamed after great personalities.

A member of the recently dissolved legislative Assembly, Raja Singh said that Qutub Shahis, the 16th century ruler of the region, had changed the name of the city from Bhagyanagar to Hyderabad. Secunderabad and Karimnagar also went through similar name changes.

“Our aim is when Bharatiya Janata Party government comes to power in Telangana, our first priority is development, and second, these names should be changed. They should be named after great people, those who worked for nation, righteousness and Telangana,” Singh said.

In recent times, names of cities have been changed. The Uttar Pradesh government renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj and Faizabad as Ayodhya.

Raja Singh, who?

Raja Singh is a member of the Telangana Legislative Assembly representing the Goshamahal Assembly constituency in Hyderabad. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janta Party, and also occupies the position of party whip for Telangana. Raja Singh had been booked by the police in several cases including for delivering a hate speech and attacking a police constable while discharging his duty.

Earlier on July 30 2018, he declared that he would shoot the Bangladeshis living illegally in Assam if they did not leave.

Also, in Gujarat, chief minister Vijay Rupani said they were contemplating to rename Ahmedabad as Karnavati.

Earlier on Thursday, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said that the BJP president Amit Shah wants a “Muslim-free” India.

Raja Singh refuted Owaisi's comment. He said that Muslims should not believe Owaisi as he has often spoken against Telangana.

Telangana elections will be held on December 7. The ruling party is Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), headed by K Chandrashekar Rao.