Aurangabad renaming: Shinde govt wants to prolong process, says Shiv Sena MLC Danve

A leader of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena on Saturday said the Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra wanted to lengthen the process of renaming Aurangabad. While the Maha Vikas Aghadi government under Uddhav Thackeray had decided to rename the city as Sambhajinagar in its last cabinet meeting on June 29, the new dispensation on Saturday passed a fresh proposal that will see Marathwada's biggest city being called 'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar'.

Addressing a press conference, Maharashtra Legislative Council member Ambadas Danve, part of the Thackeray group in the Sena, said the addition to the name would require more and fresh nods from the Centre and these would take time.

"The process to get nods had begun in 2020 under the MVA government. If the name is now approved afresh as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, then all permissions will have to be obtained again. This will prolong the naming process, which seems to be the intention of the Eknath Shinde government," Danve alleged.


Meanwhile, former deputy mayor Rajendra Janjal was expelled from the Sena on Saturday, after which he said only he had been singled out by the local leadership for action when several functionaries are keen to meet Shinde and extend support.