Despite opposition from the Congress, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the proposal of renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar will be sent to the Centre for its approval stating that the issue of renaming a village or city was not under the jurisdiction of the state government. Thackeray's statement came as a written response to a starred question over the issue asked by BJP legislator Yogesh Sagar at the Assembly. Sagar had asked the state government whether it received a proposal on renaming Aurangabad in March 2020 and the action taken on it. "The government received a detailed proposal from Divisional Commissioner of Aurangabad on renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar on March 4, 2020," Thackeray said. In the written response, Thackeray further elaborated that a draft notification was issued by the revenue and urban development departments on November 9, 1995, when the Shiv Sena-led government was in power. However, the draft notification was challenged by the then Congress corporator Mushtaq Ahmed at the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court, which rejected his petitions. Ahmed went to the Supreme Court against it and the apex court ordered a status quo on January 17, 1996, he added. The chief minister further said in June 2001, during the Congress-led government, the state cabinet decided to withdraw the draft notifications that resulted in dismissal of the petitions in the SC. "Considering the judicial background of the issue, the remarks from the law and judiciary department are being sought. With the remarks of the law and judiciary department, a proposal will be sent to the Centre after getting other required clearances," Thackeray said. Shiv Sena and Congress have been at loggerheads over the renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar since January after Thackeray referred to Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar through his Twitter handle. It did not go down well with the Congress. Congress leader and state Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat had said all three parties of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) work on the common minimum programme (CMP) and the politics of emotion had no place in the CMP. Thackeray, however, defending it, had said Aurangzeb was not a secular person and a person like Aurangazeb did not fit into the common minimum programme of the MVA government.
