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On TV debate, TRS spokesperson’s gaffe: ‘BJP renamed Lucknow to Prayagraj…’
Prayagraj, however, is the name of the city formerly known as Allahabad, in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. The state's BJP government renamed the-then Allahabad in October 2018.
Amid a war of words between the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a potential name change for Hyderabad – the BJP wants the city to be renamed to Bhagyanagar– a TRS spokesperson, criticising the renaming of cities in BJP-ruled states, said the party renamed 'Lucknow to Prayagraj'.
Also Read | KTR's 'Bhagyanagar-Hyderabad' pushback against BJP: 'Why don't you change....'
Prayagraj, however, is the name of the city formerly known as Allahabad, in Uttar Pradesh. In October 2018, the state's BJP government gave the city its new and current name, Prayagraj. Lucknow, the capital of UP, is known as Lucknow only.
Also Read | After Allahabad became Prayagraj, clamour grows for name changes in UP
Meanwhile, the gaffe was committed by TRS spokesperson Karthik Reddy during a debate last night on Times Now. The channel was holding the debate on the TRS-BJP verbal war over renaming of Hyderabad.
BJP national secretary Y Satya Kumar shared a clip of the TRS spokesperson's mistake, and tweeted: “Trust me, he is @trspartyonline spokesperson.”
“After BJP has come to power, they've named Ali Nagar as Hari Nagar. They've named Ayodhya as Prayagraj, Lucknow as Prayagraj and certain other cities,” Reddy said, at which point the anchor interjected and corrected him.
Reddy also wrongly identified the BJP representative on the panel, Shehzad Poonawalla, as Tehseen Poonawalla, a Congress-supporting political analyst. The Poonawallas are brothers.
JNU professor and author Anand Ranganathan, a regular on TV debates, tweeted, “So on the debate tonight, that was on the cities being renamed, the TRS spokie claimed Lucknow has been changed to Prayagraj and Ayodhya has been renamed as Hari Nagar and when my brother Shehzad tried to correct him, he said ”Don't interrupt me, Tehseen. Never laughed so hard".
Ranganathan, too, was participating in the debate.
On its part, though the TRS acknowledged the error, the southern state's ruling party also pointed to gaffes made by anchors of the channel, as well as BJP leaders, including prime minister Narendra Modi.
“When (editor-in-chief) Rahul Shivshankar sitting in the Studio can do a McAdams, our TRS representative sitting through Mobile can get confused between Shehzad and Tehseen … That is not as big as a Crime as Modi ji's MRS Sirisena. Jobless Bhakts need a reason to Troll !” tweeted Krishank, the party's social media convenor.
The TRS is firmly opposed to any renaming of Hyderabad, Telangana's capital city and a major IT hub. The renaming, however, is likely to be a major issue as the state goes to assembly polls next year.
