Maharashtra's Ahmednagar to be renamed as Ahilya Nagar, announces CM Eknath Shinde

Ahilya Nagar will be dedicated to Ahilyabai Holkar who was the hereditary queen of the Maratha Empire and was born in Chondi village of Ahmednagar district.

Maharashtra's Ahmednagar is set to be renamed as Ahilya Nagar, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde announced at an event in Ahmednagar on Wednesday.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (File)

Ahilya Nagar will be dedicated to Ahilyabai Holkar who was the queen of the Maratha Empire and was born in Chondi village of Ahmednagar district.

The announcement came on the day of 298th birth anniversary of the 18th century queen, also celebrated as Ahilyabai Holkar Jayanti.

The event was attended by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar among others.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been demanding the renaming of the Ahmednagar district since February after the government renamed Maharashtra's Aurangabad and Osmanabad as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Dharashiv respectively.

Padalkar had earlier told news agency ANI, “Ahmednagar's name must be changed to Ahilya Nagar. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis have changed the name of Aurangabad and Osmanabad after a demand raised by everyone. Following that people are also demanding of changing the name of Ahmednagar to Ahilya Nagar.”