Lucknow-Agra Expressway to be renamed after AB Vajpayee? Yogi Adityanath govt makes move

The Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) would soon submit a proposal in this regard. A senior BJP leader said the former PM spent his initial days in Agra district's Bateshwar village, and Lucknow has been his “karmabhoomi” from where he got elected to the Lok Sabha five times in a row.

The Lucknow-Agra Expressway is likely to be renamed as Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Expressway. Image source: Reuters

The Lucknow-Agra Expressway is likely to be renamed as Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Expressway. The Uttar Pradesh government is mulling renaming the Expressway in the name of former prime minister AB Vajpayee, who died on August 16 at the age of 93 following prolonged illness.

According to a DNA report, the Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) would soon submit a proposal in this regard. A senior BJP leader said the former PM spent his initial days in Agra district's Bateshwar village, and Lucknow has been his “karmabhoomi” from where he got elected to the Lok Sabha five times in a row.

“Considering his connection with the two districts, it would be an apt tribute to the BJP stalwart to rename the Lucknow-Agra Expressway as Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Expressway,” the leader told DNA. Other BJP leaders too have suggested that the country’s longest Poorvanchal Expressway be renamed for the former PM, said the report.

Senior bureaucrat told DNA, “We are flooded with proposals from almost all government departments to rename existing and starting new projects in the name of the former Prime Minister. These proposals will be sent to the CM’s Secretariat for a final decision.”

In the wake of Vajpayee's recent demise, similar demands have come to the fore for the renaming of structures which were started with his efforts.

As an MP from Lucknow, he had gifted a Scientific Convention Centre to the KGMU, therefore, residents in Lucknow also demand that it be named after Vajpayee.

Meanwhile, the Education department here has also proposed to open a Centre of Excellence at Kanpur’s DAV College where Vajpayee completed his education, the report added.

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Notably, AB Vajpayee first became prime minister in 1996 for 13 days, then in 1998 for 13 months when the National Democratic Alliance again came to power. In 1999, he served as prime minister for a full term, but his alliance lost in 2004.

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