Now, BJP promises to rename Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar

Adding a fresh twist to the ongoing Aurangabad renaming issue, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil has announced that his party would pass a resolution to rename the city as Sambhajinagar if it came to power in the municipal corporation there.

Patil’s announcement is seen as a BJP’s attempt to further exploit the differences between the Shiv Sena and Congress over the renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar.

Though Sena and Congress are the constituents of the MVA government in Maharashtra, they have taken an opposite stand on the issue. While Sena has been advocating the name change, Congress has opposed it firmly.

Saying that the renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar was a matter of our pride, the state BJP chief said, “The name Sambhajinagar is acceptable to all. Then why don’t we change the name? I can assure you, if we come to power in Aurangabad, we will pass a resolution in favour of the name change,” Patil said in Pune on Monday.

The Congress has opposed it, but the Sena needs the Congress to run its government. Shiv Sena must decide if it can stake power on this issue, he added.

According to sources, the divisional commissioner of Aurangabad has sent a proposal to the general administration department of the State Government seeking to rename the city after Sambhaji Maharaj, the son of legendary Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

In 1995, the then Shiv Sena-BJP government had taken the decision to rename the Aurangabad city as Sambhajinagar, which was further challenged by the then Congress corporator Mushtaq Ahmed in the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court. However, his plea was rejected by the HC saying the state government holds the right of changing any city’s name.

The Congress-NCP government, which later came to power, withdrew the renaming proposal of Aurangabad.