The Central Government on Friday gave the nod to renaming of Maharashtra's Aurangabad city as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and of Osmanabad city as Dharashiv. The Eknath Shinde-led government had passed a resolution to change the names of both cities and sent it to the Centre for its approval on October 20, 2022.
"Many thanks to Amitbhai Shah! The government under the leadership of Chief Minister @mieknathshinde ji has 'demonstrated'...!" said Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis on Twitter while sharing the news.
The demand for changing the names of Aurangabad and Osmanabad was first voiced by the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. The state government which was then led by former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray approved the decision to change the names of the cities in the minister's last Cabinet meeting as the CM before his government collapsed in 2022.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Imtiyaz Jaleel had criticised the state government's decision. Reacting to the Centre's approval for the same, the leader said, "Aurangabad is, was and will always be our city. Now wait for our show of strength for Aurangabad. A massive morcha for our beloved city! Get ready Aurangabadis to defeat these forces (BJP) playing politics in the name of our city. We condemn and we will fight."
