The Uttar Pradesh government today formally approved the renaming of Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar according it district status.The Cabinet decision would become effective after the Election Commission completes the delimitation work, which is currently in progress in Amethi, the officials said.Chief Minister Mayawati had made the announcement to create the district at the BSP’s ‘‘Sawadhan rally’’ at Amethi on December 11. The decision was opposed by the Congress, which wanted the new district to be named after Rajiv Gandhi, and some BJP leaders.BJP leader and former Union minister Sanjay Singh said the people of Amethi would never accept its renaming as Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj’s activities were mainly concentrated in Maharashtra and very few people know him in Uttar Pradesh. ‘‘There is no jusitification in renaming Amethi after him,’’ he said at a press conference here.Even though BJP leaders had initially reacted sharply against Mayawati’s move, last night’s Cabinet meeting that approved the decision was attended by most senior BJP ministers, including Lalji Tandon, Om Prakash Singh and Hukum Singh.BJP leader Kalraj Mishra had earlier said: ‘‘The BJP leaders should have been taken into confidence before Mayawati made the announcement.’’ The Chief Minister had then said that before making the announcement she had consulted Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and Lalji Tandon. This had calmed down the BJP leaders opposed to the Chief Minister’s decision.Meanwhile, the Cabinet has decided to continue last year’s rice recovery rate (67 per cent for arva variety and 68 per cent for sela variety) fixed by the Centre.
