St Mary metro station: Talk to Centre, CM Siddaramaiah tells Fadnavis

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asserted on Friday that his government will recommend naming the Shivajinagar metro station after St Mary, and asked his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis to take it up with the Centre. 

Siddaramaiah was reacting to Fadnavis opposing the state government's proposal to name the Shivajinagar station after St Mary, which the latter said would be an "insult to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj". 

Asked about this, Siddaramaiah said: "Let him (Fadnavis) speak to the Government of India. We will send (our recommendation) to them (Centre). Let him talk to them."

On September 8, at the annual St Mary's Basilica feast, Siddaramaiah said his government would recommend to the Centre naming the Shivajinagar metro station after St Mary. This drew criticism from some quarters, including the BJP, which accused the Congress of minority appeasement.

On social media, netizens asked the government to consider late actor Shankar Nag's name instead as he had proposed a metro-like mass transit system for Bengaluru in the 1980s. 

Reacting to Fadnavis' remarks, Home Minister G Parameshwara wondered why the Maharashtra chief minister was interested in a matter concerning Bengaluru. "Decisions regarding naming metro stations will be taken by  the minister in charge of Bengaluru and Deputy Chief Minister (D K Shivakumar)," he said.

On Thursday, Leader of the Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy accused the Congress government of “appeasement politics” and said naming a metro station should not be religion-based.