Eknath Shinde cabinet approves renaming of Aurangabad, Osmanabad cities

The cabinet also approved the decision to name the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport after farmer leader D.B. Patil

The Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra on Saturday gave a cabinet approval to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv respectively.

The decision to rename these cities was taken in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government's last cabinet meeting chaired by the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on June 29, just before he resigned.

However, Mr. Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who were sworn in on June 30, had said the Thackeray-led dispensation's decision to rename these places was illegal as it was taken by it after the governor had asked it to prove majority in the State Legislative Assembly.

During the cabinet meeting chaired by Thackeray last month, Aurangabad was renamed as Sambhajinagar, but the Shinde government on Saturday added 'Chhatrapati' prefix to it.

At present, Mr. Shinde and Mr. Fadnavis are the only two members in the cabinet as its expansion is still pending.

A statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said the minutes of the June 29 cabinet meeting (chaired by Mr. Thackeray) were approved by the new government (led by Mr. Shinde) at the cabinet meeting held on Saturday.

The minutes of the meeting had come for approval before the new government, which had directed the administration to re-submit the proposal, it said.