Karnataka mulls renaming Hubballi & Belagavi airports after Sangolli Rayanna, Kittur Chennamma

Rani Chennamma (1778–1829) was the queen of erstwhile princely state of Kittur in Belagavi district while Sangolli Rayanna (1798-1831) was the army chief of the erstwhile Kittur Kingdom ruled by Rani Chennamma

Belagavi: The Karnataka government is considering demands to name Hubballi airport after Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna and Belagavi airport after Veera Rani Kittur Chennamma, Minister M B Patil told the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

Rani Chennamma (1778–1829), the queen of erstwhile princely state of Kittur in Belagavi district, had fought against the British, and is remembered as a folk hero in Karnataka

Sangolli Rayanna (1798-1831) was the army chief of the erstwhile Kittur Kingdom ruled by Rani Chennamma and fought against the British who hanged him to death from a Banyan tree near Nandagad in Belagavi district in 1831.

The Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development Minister said he would discuss with the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah about passing a resolution by both Houses of the state legislature on the issue of renaming of the airports. "There have been demand for some time now and memorandums have been submitted by various organisations to the government to name Hubballi airport after Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna and Belagavi airport after Veera Rani Kittur Chennamma," Patil said, responding to a question raised by Congress legislators N H Konareddy and Srinivas Mane during the Zero Hour.

Noting that it has been a practice to name the airport after the city in which it has been built, he said such name-changing comes under the ambit of union government's Civil Aviation Ministry.

If the state government wants to rename any airport in the state, a resolution to this effect has to be tabled and passed in both houses of the state legislature, and the proposal sent to the Centre, the Minister said.

"The demand to name Hubballi airport after Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna and Belagavi airport after Veera Rani Kittur Chennamma is under consideration and I will discuss with the Chief Minister about tabling a proposal to this effect in both houses of the legislature, and taking further steps," he added.

BJP MLA Arvind Bellad too expressed support to the renaming.