Two days after the head of the Maharashtra Congress, Balasaheb Thorat, said that his party would firmly oppose any proposal that seeks to change the name of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar, Shiv Sena said on Saturday that his resistance will not affect the tripartite government of the MVA in the state.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut expressed confidence that the issue will be resolved when all of Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) allies, Sena, NCP, and Congress, sit down together and speak.
On Thursday, Thorat had stated that Congress would oppose any proposal to change the name of Aurangabad, saying that changing the place names was not part of the Common Minimum Program (CMP) of the three ruling parties.
It was the Shiv Sena who first made the demand to change the name of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar more than two decades ago.
Read also | Maharashtra: Shiv Sena, Congress Struggles to Rename Aurangabad; BJP teases them
At the general meeting of the body of the Municipal Corporation of Aurangabad (AMC) in June 1995, a proposal in this regard was approved, which was challenged by a congressional corporation in the Superior Court and later in the Supreme Court.
In his party spokesman ‘Saamana’, Sena said: “Congress has opposed the proposal to change the name of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar. It has made the BJP happy. But the opposition of Congress to the proposal is not new and, therefore, linking it to the MVA government is silly. ” “Even if the name has not been changed in government records, the last Shiv Sena supreme, Balasaheb Thackeray, had renamed Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar when there was the prime minister of Congress in the state. People had accepted it too, ”he said.
“But some people feel that the issue of renaming Aurangabad will create friction within the ruling alliance,” Sena said in a veiled attack on the BJP.
“Thorat announced that if any proposal to change the name of Aurangabad comes up before the MVA government, his party will oppose it. It is your claim. Following his statement, the BJP leaders began to demand that the Sena make its position on the issue clear. But the Seine has not changed its position on it. “” Balasaheb Thackeray had renamed Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar 30 years ago, which was accepted by the people.
And soon it will also be officially changed, ”he said.
The party led by Uddhav Thackeray said that BJP leader Chandrakant Patil asked if Allahabad’s name can be changed to Prayagraj, Faizabad’s to Ayodhya, why can’t Aurangabad’s name be changed to Sambhajinagar?
“But we want to ask ourselves why the party did not do it when it was in power in Maharashtra,” added Sena.
“Any state requires a foundation of self-respect and even Congress will agree that Aurangazeb was not a secular person. The Muslims of Maharashtra have remained behind the Shiv Sena. They want development and well-being, ”he said.
“It is an insult to the memory of Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj that a city in Maharashtra should be named after Aurangazeb, who brutally killed ChhatrapatiSambhaji Maharaj,” it read.
But what Thorat is saying is correct. The Maharashtra government has a duty to implement the CMP to bring justice to the oppressed and the farmers, ”he added.
Congressional opposition to the proposed name change will not affect the MVA alliance, he said.
Meanwhile, Raut said, “Thirty years ago, Balasaheb Thackeray gave the name Sambhajinagar. Now only the paperwork remains. When all the MVA allies sit together and talk, the problem will be solved. “The name change of Aurangabad was not a political problem, he said.
Congressional leader Sanjay Nirupam said the MVA government was formed to work and not change the names of the cities.
“The CMP does not mention the name change of Aurangabad,” he said.
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