BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in naming Madurai airport after Tamil freedom fighter Muthuramalinga Thevar.

In a letter to the prime minister, he said it has been a long-standing demand of the people of Tamil Nadu to rename the airport and honour Thevar.

The Rajya Sabha MP said he had requested the Vajpayee government as well as the previous UPA regime to name the airport after the freedom fighter and that both the governments had accepted his proposal.

But, he said, renaming of the airport was not possible as concurrence of the state government was not received.

"Now, I urge you to have your office review the record and direct the renaming of the Madurai Airport as Muthuramalingam Thevar International Airport," Swamy said in his letter.