Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray reminds Centre to rename Aurangabad airport after Chhatrapati Sambhaji

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday wrote to Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri asking him to issue a notification about renaming Aurangabad airport as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport at the earliest

Amid the sparring between Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners over renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday wrote to Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri asking him to issue a notification about renaming Aurangabad airport as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport at the earliest.

In a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Thackeray reminded the Union minister about the pending proposal to rename the airport. He said the Maharashtra cabinet has taken a decision to rename Aurangabad airport after Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and a resolution on the same was also passed unanimously in both the houses of the state legislature.

Thackeray said that the chief secretary’s office has also been communicating with the Union ministry on it. “So, a notification to rename Aurangabad Airport as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport should be issued at the earliest,” he added.

Meanwhile, ruling Shiv Sena and Congress are at loggerheads over renaming of Aurangabad city as Sambhaji Nagar. The Sena has raked up its decades-old proposal to rename the city, which is expected to have civic polls in the next few months, while the Congress has opposed the renaming.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is cornering Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on the issue of renaming Aurangabad city after its alliance partner Congress opposed it, the Sena has questioned as to why the BJP-led Central government was not clearing the airport renaming proposal sent by the state. Earlier on Monday, Sena leader and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut had said that BJP leaders from Maharashtra must go to Delhi and ask why the Centre has not cleared the proposal.

Interestingly on Wednesday, CMO’s official Twitter handle referred to Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar while putting out a tweet on a cabinet decision. However, the statement from the CMO on the cabinet decision to increase of 165 beds and create 360 posts in government medical college and cancer hospital in Aurangabad did not refer to the city as Sambhaji Nagar. Incidentally, the CMO Twitter handle tagged medical education minister Amit Deshmukh, who is from the Congress, which has opposed renaming of the city.