The North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Saturday said there was no proposal to rename the Ramlila Maidan in the city after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, reported PTI. “There is no proposal to rename Ramlila Maidan after Vajpayeeji,” said North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta. “All reports suggesting so are wrong.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party runs the civic body.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had cited a news report on the proposed moved and tweeted, “Changing name of Ramlila Maidan, etc., after Vajpayeeji will not fetch votes. BJP should change the name of the prime minister to get some votes because people are not voting on his name now.”

Each year, the Ramlila Maidan hosts the Ramlila – a dramatic re-enactment of the life of the Hindu god Ram – as well as several political rallies and other events.

Gupta denied that the civic body’s councillors had approached him with such a proposal. “No councillor has even made any such suggestion,” he added.

The president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Delhi unit, Manoj Tiwari, also said there was no such proposal. He accused “politically motivated people” of spreading the rumour. “We are worshippers of Lord Ram, there is no question of changing name of Ramlila Maidan,” he added.