Aurangabad
The city revelers celebrated by bursting crackers after the centre gave nod to the renaming of the city as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Friday. When the decision was announced, activists of both the Shiv Sena groups, BJP and MNS along with various Maratha organisations welcomed the decision.
The residents bursted crackers near the statue of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj in the TV Centre area. The people shouted slogans hailing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, prime minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Eknath Shinde and others.
Balasaheb Thackeray on May 9, 1988, had announced to change the name of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar at Marathwada Sanskrutik Mandal. The then mayor Sunanda Kolhe and later Anita Ghodele tabled the proposals in this regard and sent them to the government. In the last cabinet meeting of the Mahavikas Aghadi Government, a decision was taken to change the name to Sambhajinagar. The Shinde - Fadnavis government which came to power six months back took the decision to rename the city Chhatrapati Sambhaninagar. The union government on Friday gave a nod to it. Thousands of people gathered at TV Centre with saffron flags. Guardian minister Sandipan Bhumre arrived at around 9 pm and participated in the celebration. State cooperative minister Atul Save, Shiv Sena district president Rajendra Janjal, Ramesh Pawar, city chief Vishwanath Rajput, Yuva Sena officials Shekhar Jadhav, Avdhoot Andhare, Vaibhav Bhagat, Ganesh Daima, Akash Raut, Akshay Takale, Kunal Raut and Shiv Sena and BJP activists were present in large numbers.