Uddhav camp spars with Shinde-Fadnavis government over renaming of Aurangabad, Osmanabad

While the BJP faction alleged that the MVA government had taken the decision to rename the cities in an illegal Cabinet meeting that was called after it had lost majority in the Assembly, the Uddhav faction alleged that the new government was just trying to delay the renaming decision of the MVA government

Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray during a press conference at Matoshree in Mumbai. File. | Photo Credit: PTI

The sparring between the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction and the Eknath Shinde-led rebel camp, allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), over the renaming of two cities in Maharashtra continued in earnest with Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Friday criticising the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government’s move to ‘review’ Mr. Thackeray’s final decision to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities to ‘Sambhajinagar’ and ‘Dharashiv’ respectively.

Prior to the floor test following Mr. Shinde’s intra-party revolt that toppled the erstwhile MVA government, Mr. Thackeray in his final cabinet meeting on June 29 had taken a last-minute decision to rename Aurangabad, Osmanabad and the Navi Mumbai airport after the veteran Socialist politician D. B. Patil.

The renaming of Aurangabad to ‘Sambhajinagar’ – first mooted by the late Sena founder Bal Thackeray in the 1980s – had been a flashpoint between the Mr. Thackeray-led Sena and the BJP, after the latter accused the former for going ‘soft’ on Hindutva following Mr. Thackeray’s alliance with the ideologically opposed Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.

Amid reports that the newly-formed Shinde government had decided to ‘review’ Mr. Thackeray’s eleventh-hour decisions, Mr. Raut attacked the new government for trying to postpone the decision to rename the cities.

“Is Aurangzeb now a relative of this new [Shinde-Fadnavis] government? These were the very people who were criticizing us for tardiness on renaming Aurangabad [named after Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb] to ‘Sambhajinagar’ [Chhatrapati Sambhaji whom Aurangzeb killed]. They accused us of forsaking ‘Hindutva’. And now they are pushing the renaming issue away despite Mr. Thackeray already having taken that decision,” said Mr. Raut, speaking in Nagpur on Friday.

The Sena MP accused the new BJP-Sena (Shinde faction) government of trying to rob Uddhav Thackeray of the credit of having already renamed these cities.

‘Decision not put on hold’

However, shortly after, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hit back at Mr. Raut, clarifying that the decision to rename the cities had not been put on hold by the new government.

Mr. Fadnavis further said that the erstwhile MVA government had taken the decision to rename the city in an ‘illicit fashion’ as Mr. Thackeray had no right to hold a cabinet meeting when the Maharashtra Governor had already called the MVA coalition for a floor test to prove whether it had the numbers following Mr. Shinde’s revolt.

“One is not supposed to take any important cabinet decision when the Governor had already issued the directive for the floor test…the decision to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad was taken in a hurry and not done legitimately. It was done at a time when the MVA had already lost majority. Furthermore, not all cabinet members approved of the decision,” Mr. Fadnavis said, alluding to the Congress and the NCP’s discomfiture at Mr. Thackeray’s announcement in his final cabinet.

Mr. Fadnavis said that the new government would rename the cities in a legitimate manner and that the CM had accordingly conveyed to the respective commissioners the importance of renaming them and the fact that they were earlier done at an illegal cabinet meet by the MVA government.