Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s constituency, Amethi, has been renamed and given the status of a district by the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh.
This was decided by the state Cabinet on Thursday. The new district, the state’s 72nd, will be renamed Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar.
The state government also renamed Kanpur Dehat Ramabai Nagar after the wife of the late Dr B.R. Ambedkar. Ms Mayawati had earlier, in December 2002, made Amethi a district and renamed it Chhatr-apati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar, but this was scrap-ped by the Samajwadi government. The Congress surprisingly downplayed the issue, saying that while Amethi’s people wanted it named after Rajiv Gandhi, the matter was the state government’s prerogative.