Chennai Central Railway Station renamed, Palaniswami thanked Modi

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Friday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for deciding to rename Chennai Central Railway Station after AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran. Kicking off a AIADMK-BJP-PMK alliance campaign for the upcoming general election here a few days back, Modi had said the Centre has decided to rename the century-old railway station after the late AIADMK founder fondly known as MGR.

In a letter to the prime minister, Palaniswami said the Tamil Nadu Cabinet had in September 2018 unanimously resolved to recommend to the Centre to rename the station as 'Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M G Ramachandran Railway Station' in memory of the charismatic and popular former chief minister of the state. Palaniswami termed Modi's announcement a "great honour" and "befitting tribute to the great leader".

"On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu, I express my heartfelt thanks to you for the announcement," he said. The chief minister recalled that M G Ramachandran was honoured with the highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to public service in 1988.

(With inputs from agencies.)