The Hindu in a story mentions, Belgaum City Corporation officials submitted a report to the Deputy Commissioner stating there was no record that the corporation had at any point of time passed a resolution to name the circle as Samyukta Maharashtra Chowk. Neither was there a record showing it was named after Jawaharlal Nehru, was told by Belgaum District Kannada Organisations’ Action Committee president Ashok Chandargi, the circle had come to be known as Nehru Circle since before independence, possibly after the visit of Nehru during the historic Congress session in Belgaum in 1924, he added.
It may be recalled that there were protests from both Marathi and Kannada groups on the use of the name of Samyukta Maharashtra Chowk.
Before 1956, Marathi-speaking leaders Halgekar and Mohite had made a written request to change the name of the circle, but did not suggest that it should be called Samyukta Maharashtra Chowk.
Protests were held yesterday after the name plate was removed and police say that it was removed by the ones who installed it. But police denied the Marathi group to replace the name plate again and also arrested 7 people.