Prime Minister's 7 RCR Address Renamed 7, Lok Kalyan Marg

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address will now be 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, with the New Delhi Municipal Council(NDMC) on Wednesday approving a change of name of the street where it is located.

"We have unanimously decided to change the name of Race Course Road to Lok Kalyan Marg," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said after the two rivals Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party engaged in a round of one upmanship.

The name came as a bit of surprise because the NDMC was nearly set to change the name to 7, Ekatma Marg on a suggestion by local BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi to project the ideal of integral humanism, the philosophy propounded by the Sangh's icon Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.

Sources in the NDMC said Lekhi and the BJP decided later that the name Lok Kalyan was more inclusive and hence decided to drop the name Ekatma.

The decision was reached after attempts by both sides to occupy the high ground on political symbolism. Sources Kejriwal tried to drag in Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he should decide between Ekatma and Lok Kalyan, but Lekhi cleverly wriggled out of that situation.

With an eye on the upcoming Punjab polls the Delhi CM also proposed the name Guru Gobind Singh, but the BJP which has the majority in the NDMC, said the name should be given to the Guru Rakabganj Roundabout.

Reacting to the change of name AAP MLA Somnath Bharti said, "A change of name doesn’t matter. This doesn’t give any solution to unemployment, inflation etc. The Prime Minister is doing no "Kalyan" for the people.

Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah commented wryly, "It is so good to know that everything is alright with the world and we can focus on the stuff that really matters".