Shinde cabinet approves renaming of Aurangabad, Osmanabad cities

Mumbai, July 16: The newly-elected Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra on Saturday gave a cabinet nod for the renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv, respectively.

In the last meeting as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray had taken the decision to rename the two cities on June 29. A statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said the minutes of the June 29 cabinet meeting (chaired by Thackeray) were approved by the new government (led by Shinde) at the cabinet meeting held on Saturday.

However, Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who were sworn in on June 30, had said the Thackeray-led dispensation's decision to rename these places was illegal as it was taken by it after the Governor had asked it to prove majority in the state Legislative Assembly. During the cabinet meeting chaired by Thackeray last month, Aurangabad was renamed as Sambhajinagar, but the Shinde government on Saturday added 'Chhatrapati' prefix to it.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena held a protest in Aurangabad saying that the Shinde government's move of giving a cabinet approval to the decision that was already taken by the Thackeray-led dispensation was only meant for taking the credit.

"The renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar has happened only because of Balasaheb Thackeray and nobody else can take credit for it. The Shinde-Fadnavis government gave a cabinet approval to the decision that was taken by the Uddhav Thackeray-led dispensation. It is only to take credit," former Sena MP from Aurangabad Chandrakant Khaire said.

Sena MLC and party's Aurangabad district unit president Ambadas Danve said, "The state government should now send that proposal to the central government and get it passed immediately."