Tipu Sultan Vs Aluru Venkat Rao: Row Erupts Over Renaming Of Bengaluru’s Albert Victor Road

The road stretching from Kalasipalya bus stand to Mysuru Road in Bengaluru is undergoing an identity crisis as there is a three-way fight between to rename it. Lying right behind Victoria Hospital in central Bengaluru, the BBMP is planning to rename the stretch as Tipu Sultan Palace Road from its original name of Albert Victor Road.

BJP leaders in the state are demanding the road be renamed after Aluru Venkata Rao, a leader who unified the state of Karnataka back in the ‘50s. However, commercial establishments around the area already address it with Tipu Sultan’s name. It was named after Prince Albert Victor when he visited the city in 1875.

Times of India quoted Mahendra Jain, the Additional Chief Secretary in the Urban Development Department as saying, “The council recommended the name change, but the government hasn’t issued the order. The BBMP council publishes a notification, calls for objections and finally sends the proposal to the government. Only after the government approves the change does it come into effect.”

Incidentally, the BBMP in April 2015 when it was under BJP control had floated the idea of renaming it after Tipu Sultan, but the BJP soon backtracked on the proposal.