In an embarrassment to the Shiv Sena, the new Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government on Saturday decided to rename the Aurangabad district as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv.
The previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government had taken the same decision on June 29, in its last Cabinet meeting, when the political crisis was unfolding in the state.
In the first Cabinet meeting of the new government on June 30, after Shinde and Fadnavis were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively, the minutes of the previous meeting came in for confirmation, however, the duo asked Chief Secretary Manukumar Srivastav to put in a fresh proposal.
“Since the proposal was okayed at a time when the (MVA) government was in minority and the Governor (Bhagat Singh Koshyari) asked them to prove majority, in future the decisions could lead to legal complications…hence we asked for a fresh proposal and accordingly a decision was taken,” Shinde said.
Fadnavis said that a resolution to the effect would be brought in during the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislature.
Reacting to the development, former Shiv Sena MP and senior leader from Aurangabad, Chandrakant Khaire, said that once the resolutions are passed, the decisions have to be ratified by the Centre. “The BJP must get it done urgently,” he said.
Khaire said that the decision was stayed and taken again just to take credit. “The only credit goes to Balasaheb Thackeray, who decided to rename Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar,” he said.
Shiv Sena Aurangabad President and MLA Ambadas Danve said: “Once the decision (of the MVA government) was stayed, there was tremendous opposition among the people…in fact, they have to take the decision to counter the resentment,” he said.