UPA needs Ajit for nuclear deal, so set to name Lucknow airport after his father Charan Singh

Ahead of the crucial trust vote on July 22, the Government appears all set to bury the past between the Congress...

Ahead of the crucial trust vote on July 22, the Government appears all set to bury the past between the Congress and Ajit Singh’s RLD. Citing that “requests have been received, in past, from the government of UP”, the Government is set to rename the Lucknow airport after the late Chaudhary Charan Singh, former Prime Minister and Ajit Singh’s father.

The Union Cabinet, which is slated to meet tomorrow under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will consider a proposal to rename the Lucknow airport as “Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport, Lucknow”. The move comes even as the Government tries to cobble up the numbers for the trust vote, including the backing of the three MPs of Ajit Singh’s RLD.

Ajit Singh has long demanded that Uttar Pradesh remember Charan Singh in a befitting manner. The RLD chief, who has met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the run-up to the trust vote, has also been in touch with NCP chief Sharad Pawar whose colleague Praful Patel handles the Civil Aviation Ministry that has put forward this proposal to rename the Lucknow airport.

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About a decade ago, it was Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government in Uttar Pradesh that had first sent the proposal to rename the Lucknow airport after Charan Singh. But it never took off after Ajit Singh raked up the demand for the creation of a Harit Pradesh by carving western UP.

With the Congress and SP now partners, both are keen to seal an alliance with the RLD to counter the rise of BSP chief Mayawati in UP. In this context, the proposal to rename the airport is likely to get the support of the SP.

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