Belagavi (K'taka), Dec 13: The Karnataka government is considering demands to name Hubballi airport after Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna and Belagavi airport after Veera Rani Kittur Chennamma, Minister M B Patil told the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

Rani Chennamma (1778–1829), the queen of erstwhile princely state of Kittur in Belagavi district, had fought against the British, and is remembered as a folk hero in Karnataka Sangolli Rayanna (1798-1831) was the army chief of the erstwhile Kittur Kingdom ruled by Rani Chennamma and fought against the British who hanged him to death from a Banyan tree near Nandagad in Belagavi district in 1831.

The Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development Minister said he would discuss with the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah about passing a resolution by both Houses of the state legislature on the issue of renaming of the airports. "There have been demand for some time now and memorandums have been submitted by various organisations to the government to name Hubballi airport after Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna and Belagavi airport after Veera Rani Kittur Chennamma," Patil said, responding to a question raised by Congress legislators N H Konareddy and Srinivas Mane during the Zero Hour.

Noting that it has been a practice to name the airport after the city in which it has been built, he said such name-changing comes under the ambit of union government's Civil Aviation Ministry

If the state government wants to rename any airport in the state, a resolution to this effect has to be tabled and passed in both houses of the state legislature, and the proposal sent to the Centre, the Minister said.

"The demand to name Hubballi airport after Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna and Belagavi airport after Veera Rani Kittur Chennamma is under consideration and I will discuss with the Chief Minister about tabling a proposal to this effect in both houses of the legislature, and taking further steps," he added.

BJP MLA Arvind Bellad too expressed support to the renaming.

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New Delhi (PTI): The BJP's Purvanchali leader and two-time former MLA from Kirari Anil Jha joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the presence of party supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday.

The development came a few hours after the AAP suffered a big blow as its Najafgarh MLA and Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot quit the party.

Kejriwal welcomed Jha to the AAP at party headquarters near Mandi House and dubbed him as one of the "biggest" Purvanchali leaders in Delhi politics. He will boost the AAP not only in Kirari but all over the city, the AAP supremo said.

Party sources claimed that Jha could replace the sitting AAP MLA from Kirari, in the Delhi Assembly polls due in February.

Jha lauded Kejriwal, saying he was influenced by his personality and the work done by the AAP government to improve the lives of Purvanchali people living in unauthorised colonies of the city.

Kejriwal alleged that while the AAP government built 10,000 km of roads and streets, laid 6800 km of sewer lines and provided piped water in 1,650 unauthorised colonies, "the BJP did nothing".

"I want to ask the BJP and its leader Amit Shah, why should Purvanchali people vote for the party. I challenge them to tell one thing they did for the Purvanchali people in Delhi. They promised the registry of properties in these colonies but not a single one could be done in five years," he said.

When asked by reporters Kejriwal, however, refused to comment on Gahlot's resignation from the AAP.