Bihar: Renaming of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Park sparks row, BJP tears into Nitish govt

New Delhi: Nitish government’s decision to rechristen a park in Patna, named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee has sparked off a controversy and is set to ignite fresh sparring between the ruling Mahagathbandhan & Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Tej Pratap Yadav, the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Bihar today announced the renaming of the park, which is likely to come into effect from today.

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee park, situated in Patna’s Kankarbagh area will now be known as ‘Coconut Park’. Reports suggest that Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashvi Yadav will inaugurate the newly renamed park on Monday.

The renaming of park comes just days after Bihar CM Nitish Kumar visited memorial in Delhi and paid rich tributes to former PM Atal Bihar Vajpayee on latter’s death anniversary. Expectedly, the decision has drawn has strong reactions from BJP state leaders as well as Central leadership.

Senior BJP leader and Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai hit out at Nitish govt for insulting the legacy of a Bharat Ratna and one of the tallest leader of the country. H said that renaming of the park, where there lies a Vajpayee statue is highly disappointing and nothing less than a crime.

“Tejashvi, people will question you, Nitish ji stop him,” said Rai.

Bihar BJP president Samrat Chaudhary also slammed the Nitish govt for its double standards.

“This is the respect Nitish ji has for Atal ji, his words and actions do not match with each other,” a portal quoted Chaudhary as saying.

The Park was originally known by name of Coconut Park, however, it was changed 2018 after the demise of Atal Bihar Vajpayee. With Tej Pratap announcing its name change, the park will again be called Coconut Park.

A Hindi portal reports that bust of Atal Bihari Vajpayee remains there, despite the administration effecting a name change.