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, Jan 26 (PTI): The Congress alleged Saturday its Rithala candidate Sushant Mishra was assaulted by a poll official, and demanded a thorough probe into the incident and action against him.

Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed Sushant Mishra was assaulted by an Election Commission of India official on Saturday.

He alleged the official also attempted to prevent Mishra from undertaking a Padayatra for which the Delhi Police had already given permission.

In a post on X, Ramesh said, "@sushant_m has been actively taking up violations of the Model Code of Conduct by other candidates in the ongoing Delhi Vidhan Sabha elections. This unprecedented and illegal act of partisanship by an official of a Constitutional body like the ECI can only be seen as a desperate attempt by the AAP and BJP to stem the surge of support for his candidacy and that of the Congress Party in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha elections"

Ramesh said the Congress remains undaunted and will continue to raise the voice of people and protect the sanctity of elections.

"To preserve the integrity of the electoral process, the Indian National Congress demands a full inquiry into the incident and immediate corrective action against the concerned official," the Congress leader demanded.

Mishra has also separately written to the returning office and Chief Electoral officer and the Election Commission about the incident, demanding action against the accused.