'Atal Tunnel' name to stay; will restore UPA plaque which was removed: Himachal CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu

Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has said that his government won't change the name of Atal Tunnel but would restore the plaque on the foundation stone, which was removed at the time of inauguration of the tunnel recently. The missing plaque contained the names of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who laid the foundation stone, and dignitaries of the Union and state governments.

At a media interaction in New Delhi on Thursday, after he and HP Congress MLAs met party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sukhu said: "No name or plaque will be changed. I want to make it clear 'Atal Tunnel', formerly known as Rohtang Tunnel, was named by the BJP government in honour of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji. The name will not be changed. We also respect him as he was India's PM. But BJP leaders should have also respected people who laid the foundation stone of the tunnel. Sonia Gandhiji was UPA chairperson then, AK Antonyji was defence minister and Dr Manmohan Singhji the PM. The state government was then headed by BJP's PK Dhumalji. His name too was there on the plaque... We will restore the plaque; I will visit the site for the purpose." His clarification came after BJP threatened an agitation if Atal Tunnel was renamed.

Sukhu said ministers would be inducted in his ministry after the upcoming assembly session. He said that Virbhadra Singh's son Vikramaditya Singh would be one of the ministers.