London (PTI): An appeal to name streets after Mahatma Gandhi in UK towns by US-based organisation Gandhi Monument Council (GMC) is being actively considered by Mayors of Liverpool and Leicester.

The GMC had, in a letter by its coordinators Reverend Gene Savoy Jr, head bishop of the International Community of Christ and Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, appealed to mayors of ten cities including London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Sheffield, Leeds, Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Zed told PTI on wednesday that he had received a positive response from the mayor's office in Liverpool.

The move, however, is likely to face some opposition in Leicester, known as 'Little India', where the local council voted unanimously to install a statue of Gandhi in Belgrave, an area mostly inhabited by Indians of Gujarat origin.

A section of local residents had opposed the move for the Gandhi statue on the ground that Gandhi had no connection with the city. They believe that too much is being done in the name of multiculturalism in the city.

Responding cautiously to the demand, Leicesters Indian-origin Lord Mayor, Manjula Sood, said, "It is up to the citizens of Leicester to decide whether they would want this. Belgrave has been an area talked about in the past.

We should not rush into this and the public must be fully consulted. If this is what people want then they should have it. We have a statue of Gandhi on the way and already have Nelson Mandela Park in the city."