Aero India show: A political storm seems to be brewing in Karnataka

Bharatiya Janata Party has said no decision had been taken on shifting the event out of Bengaluru

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A political storm seems to be brewing in Karnataka over hosting of the Aero India show. After Congress alleged that the government at the Centre was planning to shift the show from Bengaluru to Lucknow for political gains ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year, state Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy urged his “BJP friends in Karnataka” to “answer”. “... We have all infrastructure in place as well. I don’t know why the Centre took such a decision,” he said during his speech at an Independence Day event. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara joined the chorus and accused the central government of “taking away key defence projects from the state”. The Bharatiya Janata Party has, however, said no decision had been taken on shifting the event out of Bengaluru.

Renaming spree

After renaming Uttar Pradesh’s iconic Mughalsarai railway station as Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, the state government has mooted a proposal to rename three of its airports — in Bareilly, Kanpur and Agra. These are defence airports and the state government and the Airports Authority of India are said to be in consultation with the Centre on the possible rechristening. The state civil aviation department has suggested Bareilly be renamed Nath Nagri (state Chief minister Yogi Adityanath belongs to the Nath sect), Kanpur’s Chakeri airport be named after freedom fighter Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, and the Agra airport after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh thinker Upadhyay. Uttar Pradesh civil aviation minister Nand Gopal Nandi said, “A meeting with the Union ministry of civil aviation (on this) is expected soon.”

No celebration

Aam Aadmi Party workers and well wishers queued up at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence on Thursday morning to wish him on his birthday. Early in the day, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had wished him on Twitter and Kejriwal had acknowledged their wishes. After that, he headed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to enquire about the health of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away in the evening. In the morning, Kejriwal had requested AAP volunteers not to celebrate his birthday in view of the deteriorating health of Vajpayee, and refrain from visiting the chief minister’s bungalow.