Kerala BJP president and Rahul Gandhi’s rival candidate, K. Surendran, has said he would prioritise changing the name of the picturesque Sulthan Bathery to Ganapathy Vattam since the existing name is linked to Tipu Sultan.

In a clear attempt to ignite controversy in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and apparently desperate to gain a foothold in Kerala, Surendran told a news conference in Wayanad on Thursday that the town was always known as Ganapathy Vattam.

Tipu Sultan has been a polarising figure in the region, which includes Karnataka and north Kerala, because of his invasion. His critics, including the Sangh Parivar, accuse him of mass religious conversions and destruction of Hindu and Jain temples.

Surendran insisted that Sulthan Bathery was known as Ganapathy Vattam before the invasion of the 18th-century ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan. Sulthan Bathery is one of the main towns in the hill district of Wayanad, the others being district headquarters Kalpetta and Mananthavady.

It was part of the kingdom of Tipu Sultan who used his battery (artillery) atop a fort, now in ruins, to stop British troops advancing from the coastal side. The British referred to the place as Sultan’s Battery, which eventually got localised to Sulthan Bathery. According to the Kerala tourism website, the town was previously known as Ganapathy Vattam.

“It’s not Sultan’s Battery. It has always been Ganapathy Vattam. Who doesn’t know that? How long has it been since the Sultan came to the scene? Did that place not have a name before that?” Surendran told a news conference in answer to a question.

“How long has it been since the invasion of Tipu Sultan? Didn’t this place have inhabitants before that? Didn’t these places have names before that? Wasn’t there a Ganapathy temple there before Tipu Sultan’s invasion?”

The national general secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League, P.K. Kunhalikutty, said Surendran had no chance of winning from Wayanad, let alone changing the town’s name. “This is Kerala. You know that, don’t you? He is not going to win and thus not going to change that name,” the IUML leader told reporters.

Kalpetta Congress MLA T. Siddique, too, rubbished Surendran’s threat saying he was “merely trying to grab some attention”.­