Don't want to beg: Lt. Col. Niranjan's friend on road rename issue

After Minister of Bengaluru Development and Town Planning K.C. George assured that the Karnataka Government "another" road in Lt. Col Niranjan E.K.'s honour, if not the one for which the Karnataka Aam Aadmi Party and the residents of Vidyaranyapura has even started an online petition, the braveheart's friend Shashank Shiv Kumar on Monday said that they didn't "want to beg on this issue."

"I have met the concerned officers. They said it's in process and we need to just do a survey. We don't want anything if they are planning to name some other road, flyover, etc as we don't want to beg on this issue," Shashank told ANI.

Earlier in the day, George told ANI, "Col. Niranjan's name was recommended; we have highest respect for him. That's why we passed the resolution to name a road after him."

"We wanted to name a road after Niranjan, but this road was already named for a freedom fighter Pete Siddappa Tiruvu," he added.

The Karnataka Government passed a resolution last year to rename the Doddbommasandra main road in Vidyarayanyapura after Lt Col Niranjan EK, who lost his life in the 2016 Pathankot attack.

Reportedly, in January last year, Karnataka Aam Admi Party and residents of Vidyaranyapura started an online petition to rename the road after Lt Col Niranjan EK.

"He laid down his life fighting terrorists in Pathankot. His family, friends and neighbours remember him as devoted to the army and dedicated to his country. We want to keep this martyr's memory alive. Lt Col Niranjan grew up in Vidyaranyapura, Bengaluru, his family currently lives there. We request you to rename a prominent road "DoddaBommasandra" in the locality after him," read the petition on change.org.