New Delhi, May 18: The Centre has all but turned down minister V.K. Singh's proposal to rename Delhi's Akbar Road, home to the Congress headquarters, to Maharana Pratap Road.

"It is not my mandate. It is not on my agenda. I am only interested in development," urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu said, squashing Delhi chatter about yet another drive to rename key roads.

Technically, it is the mandate of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation, the civic body which has jurisdiction over Lutyens Delhi of which Akbar Road is a part.

Once a proposal is received, it goes to a naming committee headed by the Delhi chief minister. The committee sends the proposal to the agency concerned for comments, following which it decides on whether the proposal should be taken up.

Singh, the junior foreign minister, had written to Naidu demanding Akbar Road be renamed in the memory of the 16th century Rajput king revered for having taken on the "mighty Akbar".

"Important personalities like Maharana Pratap and Chhatrapati Shivaji deserve greater recognition than they have been given thus far...one historical personality that has motivated generations, Maharana Pratap, has not been given his due...," Singh wrote, adding the renaming would be a fitting "recognition of his (Maharana Pratap's) valour and spirit of secularism..."

Some did not seemed convinced. "We have better things to do than to encourage and facilitate changes in road names," a senior Union minister said, adding there was always "some politics" behind such renaming proposals.

However, BJP spokesperson Shaina N.C. backed the plan. "#AkbarRoad should be renamed to Maharana #Pratap Marg. Imagine #Hitler Road in #Israel! No country honours its oppressors like we do!!" she tweeted.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had backed the plan too. He was quoted as telling a news agency earlier this month that there were "disproportionate number of roads named after Muslim conquerors" and around "33 per cent of roads in Lutyens' Delhi".

But sources indicated the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government was not keen to play ball, unlike nine months ago when party members voted along with those of the BJP in the NDMC to rename Aurangazeb Road "Dr A.P.J. Kalam Road" soon after his death.

On Akbar Road, NDMC is yet to receive a formal proposal, an official said. Another source said neither the Centre or the Kejriwal government wanted to be seen as tinkering with the legacy of Akbar who was known as a benevolent ruler.

"How can the government defend its decision to rename Akbar Road when in the annals of history Akbar is called 'Akbar the Great'," said an official in Naidu's ministry.