Calcutta, May 22: The government has decided to rename Indira Bhavan after poet Nazrul Islam and has no “immediate” plans to demolish the building, urban development minister Firhad Hakim has said.

“We do not have any immediate plan to demolish the building. But the house will be known as Nazrul Bhavan and will be formally inaugurated on Friday by Mamata Banerjee,” Hakim told The Telegraph this afternoon.

The leader said he had already conveyed this to Congress minister Manas Bhuniya.

“Following Mamatadi’s instruction, I conveyed to Manas Bhuniya this morning that the Salt Lake house where Indira Gandhi had stayed in 1972 would be renamed Nazrul Bhavan. This would be the government’s initiative to honour poet Nazrul Islam,”

The minister also disputed the Congress’s claim to retain the name “Indira Bhavan”. “It was never officially called Indira Bhavan. There was just a board saying Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the building. So, I want the Congress to go by the logic and accept the government’s stand,” he added.

Bhuniya, who left for Chennai for the treatment of his wife, said over the phone that he had a “detailed discussion” on the issue involving Indira Bhavan with the urban development minister before he left Calcutta.

“I was given an impression that the government won’t do anything to harm the sentiments of Congress workers concerning renaming Indira Bhavan,” he said from Chennai.

When told about Hakim’s public announcement on renaming the building after the poet, Bhuniya said: “Let’s see how things would shape in the coming days”, giving indications that the Congress would not make an issue on the government’s decision.

Against this backdrop, the Congress has decided not to go for a fresh bout of confrontation with Trinamul Congress particularly at a time the party is passing through “tough phase” over the upcoming presidential elections in July.

“Keeping in mind the upcoming presidential elections, we don’t like to go for a fresh bout of confrontation with Trinamul by stepping up a movement against the renaming of Indira Bhavan,” said an AICC leader from Delhi this morning.