‘My own people betrayed me’: Uddhav in a ‘farewell’ speech

Maha Cabinet approves renaming of Aurangabad to Sambhaji Nagar, Osmanabad to Dharashiv

The Maharashtra Cabinet on Wednesday approved proposals to rename Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv. The Cabinet also approved naming the upcoming Navi Mumbai international airport after farmers’ leader late D.B. Patil.

In a sort of farewell speech, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray also thanked all his Cabinet colleagues and senior bureaucrats for their cooperation and also sought “pardon” for any mistakes that he may have committed in his tenure of two and a half years.

“The CM said he had received the support of the Congress and NCP, but his own people betrayed him. He said all three parties came together and did good work in two and a half years. He expressed his gratitude to all three parties,” senior NCP minister Jayant Patil said after the meeting.

Mr Thackeray held the Cabinet meeting in person at Mantralaya after a long time. A senior official said the decisions taken at the meeting will have to be ratified at the next Cabinet meeting.

The decisions to change the names of Aurangabad and Osmanabad have come amid pressure mounted on Mr Thackeray by rebel MLAs who have alleged that the Shiv Sena chief had compromised on Hindutva ideology to form a government with the Congress and NCP.

For long, the Shiv Sena has been demanding a name change of the two cities. In fact, Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana always referred to the two cities as Sambhaji Nagar and Dharashiv.

However, after coming to power, Mr Thackeray had not pursued the matter.

At a public meeting in Aurangabad last month, he had said the name change was necessary as he calls the city “Sambhaji Nagar”.

Mr Thackeray has also quelled the controversy over the naming of Navi Mumbai airport. There was a proposal from the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) — the planning authority for Navi Mumbai — to name it after Bal Thackeray. But the locals had opposed it as they wanted it named after the late D.B. Patil.

At the Cabinet meeting, senior minister Balasaheb Thorat demanded that Pune city should be renamed as Jijau Nagar, after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s mother.

However, the other Cabinet members of the MVA government opposed this, saying that Pune has got international recognition and therefore it would not be appropriate to rename it.

A senior official, who was present at the Cabinet meeting, said the chief minister expressed his displeasure over how things were unfolding in the past eight days.