Nothing new in calling Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar: Thackeray

The word secular does notsuit him, he added.The Shiv Sena president was speaking to reporters athis personal residence Matoshree here after inducting twoBJP leaders from Nashik into his party.Aurangabad, once the headquarters of the DakkhanDeccan province in Mughal empire, derives its name fromMughal emperor Aurangzeb.Reacting to the chief ministers remarks, stateCongress chief and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said,Renaming a city brings no difference in the lives of thepeople.

Maharashtra Chief Minister UddhavThackeray on Friday said there was nothing new in referring toAurangabad as Sambhajinagar.

His statement comes amid Congress's stiff oppositionto renaming Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar, after the elder sonof warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji.

When asked about the criticism by Shiv Sena's rulingallies Congress and NCP for referring to Aurangabad asSambhajinagar on the chief minister's official Twitter handle,Thackeray asked, ''What is new in that? We have been referringto Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar for several years.

''Aurangazebwas not secular. The word secular does notsuit him,'' he added.

The Shiv Sena president was speaking to reporters athis personal residence 'Matoshree' here after inducting twoBJP leaders from Nashik into his party.

Aurangabad, once the headquarters of the Dakkhan(Deccan) province in Mughal empire, derives its name fromMughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Reacting to the chief minister's remarks, stateCongress chief and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said,''Renaming a city brings no difference in the lives of thepeople. There is no development in it. We will convey ourstand to the chief minister.'' In 1995, Shiv Sena had first demanded that Aurangabadbe renamed as Sambhajinagar.

A proposal to that effect was passed in the generalbody meeting of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation in June1995, which was challenged by a Congress corporator in thehigh court and later in the Supreme Court.

Two days back, the Maharashtra Chief Minister's Office(CMO), in one of the tweets about cabinet decisions, hadmentioned Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar. However, Thorat hadobjected to it saying that the Directorate of Information andPublicity should not rename cities on its own and that itshould remember that official work is a legal document.