The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has officially issued a notification changing the names of Aurangabad and Osmanabad districts to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv respectively.
The notification by the Revenue Department on Friday night said that the suggestions and objections which were sought a few months ago have been considered and the decision has been taken to change the names at the sub-division, village, taluka and district levels.
The decision to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad was taken in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s last cabinet meeting, led by then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on June 29, 2022, just before he stepped down following a rebellion by Shinde and the MLAs supporting him.
However, Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who were sworn in a day later, 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 assembly.
In July 2022, the Shinde cabinet gave a nod to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv respectively. In the MVA government's last cabinet meeting, Aurangabad was renamed as Sambhajinagar, but the Shinde government added 'Chhatrapati' prefix to it.
(With PTI inputs)
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