India, July 3 -- In a fresh round of renaming decisions, the Karnataka cabinet has approved the renaming of the border town Bagepalli to Bhagyanagara, a move that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said was prompted by the belief that the suffix "palli" is derived from the Telugu language. The proposal to rename the town came from local MLA S.N. Subba Reddy, and the cabinet gave its nod during a meeting held atop Nandi Hills.

Defending the decision, CM Siddaramaiah remarked that "palli" is a Telugu word and claimed it was inappropriate for a town in Karnataka. "I don't know Telugu. Do you?" the Chief Minister quipped when a journalist pointed out that "palli" is not exclusive to Telugu. He maintained that the renaming was done based on the loca...