New Delhi, Aug 25 : Delhi BJP leaders and New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) on Saturday denied reports that the iconic Ramlila Maidan in the heart of the capital would be renamed Atal Maidan.
In an interview to CNN News18, Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari said reports about Ramlila Maidan being renamed after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee are "completely baseless".
"I have no idea where the news emerged from, but we can never change the name of the Ramlila Maidan. All such reports are completely baseless," he said.
On the other hand, NDMC ward commissioner Jayprakash, speaking to CNN News18, also denied reports about renaming Ramlila grounds by saying that "NDMC never held a meeting or presented a proposal to rename the Ramlila ground."
Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet said that "changing the name of Ramlila Maidan won't fetch them votes but changing the name of the Prime Minister might".
In a reply to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo's allegations, Leader of Opposition Delhi Vijender Gupta said AAP is getting over excited over an issue that never even existed.
"There was never a proposal to rename the Maidan. No meeting was held, and no one even suggested it, so why is the Aam Aadmi Party overly excited," Gupta, an MLA from Rohini constituency, said.
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New Delhi: Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal admitted during a speech at Laxmi Bai Nagar that his government failed to fulfil three major promises made earlier. He assured the gathering that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is working towards addressing these issues.
Kejriwal said, "I could not fulfil three promises, cleaning the Yamuna River, providing clean drinking water 24 hours a day, and upgrading Delhi’s roads to European standards." He also reminded the audience of his 2023 promise to clean the Yamuna and take a dip in its waters before the 2025 Assembly polls. Recently, he inaugurated a 24-hour drinking water supply in Rajendra Nagar and vowed to extend this initiative across Delhi.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit, contesting against Kejriwal, criticised him for failing to address pollution in the Yamuna and Delhi's toxic air. Dikshit, son of former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, alleged that the Kejriwal government had neglected setting up sewage treatment plants, worsening the Yamuna's pollution.
He also attributed Delhi’s air pollution to the rising number of vehicles, lack of a strong public transport system, and diminishing green cover. "The number of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses has decreased from 5,500 in 2013 to around 3,000 now," Dikshit added.