Maharashtra government considers renaming Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar

During a cabinet meeting presided over by The Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday in the state secretariat in south Mumbai, Transport Minister Anil Parab demanded to rename Aurangabad city as Sambhajinagar. The Cabinet meeting took place in the state secretariat in south Mumbai a day after Thackeray took away the portfolios of rebel Shiv Sena ministers who are camping in Guwahati. 

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Transport Minister Anil Parab of the Shiv Sena said he demanded that Aurangabad city in central Maharashtra be renamed Sambhajinagar. 

A proposal will be brought in tomorrow's Cabinet meeting, Parab, a close aide of Thackeray, said. The move comes amid pressure on the Shiv Sena which has been accused of compromising with its core ideology of Hindutva. 

The opposition BJP has been trying to corner the Shiv Sena, which heads the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, over renaming the central Maharashtra city after Maratha king Chhatrapati Sambhaji. 

Considered a polarising figure in Indian history, Mughal emperor Aurangazeb founded the city of Aurangabad in the Marathwada region of present-day Maharashtra. He had also ordered the execution of Chhatrapati Sambhaji, a personality revered by the Shiv Sena.

(With inputs from PTI) 

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