SMK wants B'luru-Mysuru Expressway named after Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar

Former chief minister and senior BJP leader S M Krishna has written to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai urging them to rename Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway after Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar.

In his separate letters, dated January 1, to Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, Krishna said that Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the benevolent king, had earned the sobriquet ‘Rajarshi’ from Mahatma Gandhi for his administrative reforms and achievements.

“During his rule between 1902 and 1940, Nalwadi Krishnaraja had taken up several development projects including the Krishnaraja Sagara (KRS), the lifeline of farmers in the region, the hydroelectric project at Shivanasamudra, formation of Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel plant, Bhadravathi, KR Hospital, Sandalwood oil factory and Mysore Sugar mill among others,” Krishna stated in the letters.

“Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, during his nearly four decades of rule, cultivated a ‘humanistic vision of community co-existence’ that shaped the culture of Mysuru, which is rich in heritage and customs,” the letters stated.

The senior BJP leader said that Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar’s farsighted policies and welfare measures were etched in the minds of millions of people of Bengaluru and Mysuru, therefore, naming the expressway (NH 275) after him would be a great honour.

Krishna’s letters follow a similar demand made by Congress MLCs Dinesh Gooligowda and Madhu G Madegowda, both of whom had sought the expressway to be named after Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar.

On December 21, BJP MP from Mysore-Kodagu Pratap Simha had written to Gadkari seeking the Union minister to rename the highway as ‘Cauvery Expressway’ on the lines of ‘Yamuna Expressway’ of Delhi and ‘Narmada Expressway’ of Madhya Pradesh. The ambitious 10-lane Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway project (National Highway 275) cuts the distance between two cities in half.