Amaravati, Feb 2 (PTI): Days after three members of a right wing outfit were apprehended for allegedly trying to unfurl the national flag at a tower in Guntur named after Mohammed Ali Jinnah on January 26, the Guntur Municipal Corporation has painted the famous city landmark in the national tricolour of Saffron, White and Green in a bid to end the row over the heritage structure's name.

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The national flag will also be installed at the Tower on Thursday, according to Guntur Mayor Kavati Manohar Naidu and MLC L Appi Reddy.

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They asserted that the Jinnah Tower would not be renamed, as being demanded by the BJP.

"This is a tower of harmony and dates back to pre-Independence era. This has been symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity in the city," they said.

The Mayor recalled that way back in 1966 the then Guntur Municipal Council had rejected a similar plea for renaming the Jinnah Tower.

For some time now, the state BJP leaders have been demanding that the Jinnah Tower be renamed, failing which they allegedly threatened to remove it.

The Jinnah Tower is named after Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

On Republic Day, the local police apprehended at least three youths belonging to the Hindu Vahini for trying to hoist the national flag on the tower.

The Guntur Municipal Corporation erected iron fencing around the tower to prevent untoward incidents.

On Tuesday, the civic body started painting the tower in the tricolour and the work was completed on Wednesday.

The civic body also held a meeting with Muslim leaders and convinced them on the need for painting the tower in the tricolour.

Local MLAs Mohammad Mustafa and M Giridhar also attended the meeting.

There were a few narratives surrounding the Jinnah Tower, with one suggesting that the then Municipal Chairmen Tellakula Jalaiah and Nadimpalli Narasimha Rao got it built as a symbol of peace and harmony during their successive stints.

Jinnah never visited the city though his representative came to Guntur and was honoured in the pre-Independence era.

Jinnah Tower Centre is a famous landmark in Guntur.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)