WB govt unaware of Centre's proposal to rename Barddhaman station: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that the state government is unaware of the Centre's proposal to rename the Barddhaman Junction railway station and was not consulted on it.

A proposal to change the name of the station requires a clearance from her government before it can be implemented, Banerjee, a former Railway minister said.

The Centre has proposed to rename the Barddhaman Junction after freedom fighter Batukeshwar Dutt.

The proposal to change the name of the Barddhaman railway station is that of the BJP, Banerjee said.

"I was there in the Railway Ministry twice. If you want to change the name of a station then you need to get a clearance for the proposal from the state government. That is the system. As per the system, the central government is to propose the name and state government is to clear it," the chief minister told reporters at the state secretariat here.

"I do not know (of the proposed change). Nothing is in my knowledge. So it is a BJP proposal ... We must not forget that one political party will be in the government for sometime and after that another party will come in power," Banerjee, a virulent critic of the saffron party, added.

Batukeshwar Dutt was born in Barddhaman district. Minister of State for Home and Bihar BJP chief Nityanand Rai had on Saturday paid a visit to the house where the revolutionary stayed after Independence.

Dutt had later made Patna his home, Rai said here on Sunday.

The Centre had earlier this month refused to clear the West Bengal government's 2018 proposal to change the name of the state to 'Bangla'. This had prompted Banerjee to shoot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to expedite the name change and accept the wish of the people.

The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh had in 2018 changed the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj. The Centre also gave its nod to change the name of the iconic Mughalsarai railway station to Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction.