Trouble in Paradise! Maha CM requests Hardeep Singh Puri to rename Aurangabad airport 'at earliest' but Congress opposes

Mumbai, Jan 7: Amid the conflicts taking place between Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners over the renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday wrote to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, requesting a notification on the renaming of Aurangabad airport as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport “at the earliest”.

 

The Chief Minister's letter to Puri comes in the backdrop of the war of words between Shiv Sena, Congress, and BJP over the renaming of Aurangabad ahead of upcoming civic polls.

 

The Chief Minister informed Puri about the state government’s decision and the Maharashtra Assembly resolution in this regard. "The state Cabinet has taken a decision to rename the Aurangabad airport after Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. A resolution on the same was also passed unanimously in both Houses of the state legislature during the Budget Session," Thackeray said in his letter, according to a statement from the chief minister’s office (CMO).

 

Further, he also referred to the reminders sent by the chief secretary to the Civil Aviation Ministry in this regard. "A notification to rename Aurangabad Airport as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport should be issued at the earliest," he added.

 

 

Earlier, Thackeray was involved in low-key sparring between the allies through with a tweet, in which Aurangabad was mentioned as Sambhaji Nagar. The tweet was to announce a Cabinet decision taken on Wednesday to add 165 beds and create 360 posts in the Aurangabad government medical college and cancer hospital. The tweet tagged Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh of the Congress, which has opposed the renaming from Aurangabad to Sambhaji Nagar. However, an official statement from the CMO referred to the city only as Aurangabad.

 

Reacting to the renaming of the cities, Balasaheb Thorat, Revenue Minister, and state Congress president, said that the MVA government runs on the Common Minimum Program, and renaming of cities is not a part of it. “We reiterate that to maintain social harmony, we strongly oppose renaming of any city,” said Thorat.

 

 

Without naming Thackeray, who heads the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR), Thorat said DGIPR should not name cities on its own. “While we adore Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, politics should not be played with his name. We should come together for the development of Aurangabad,” he added.