Change names of Aurangabad, Osmanabad: Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena on Thursday reiterated their demand to change the name of Aurangabad to Sambhaji Nagar and to rename Osmanabad as Dharashiv.

"The demand for the renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad into Sambaji Nagar and Dharashiv is not new to Shiv Sena. It has been our long-standing demand," Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande told ANI, echoing what her colleague Sanjay Raut had said earlier in the day.

The Shiv Sena's demand for the name change of the two places in Maharashtra goes back to decades.

"It has been raised several times but faced sheer opposition from Congress and NCP because they wanted to appease of Muslims voters," Kayande added.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani also indicated that his government is mulling over to change the name of Gujarat's Ahmedabad to Karnavati after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government of Uttar Pradesh changed the names of the state's two districts.

"We are contemplating changing the name of Ahmedabad to Karnavati, the talks of which have been going on since a long time. Concrete steps will be taken after looking at it from legal and all other angles. We will think about it in the time to come," said Rupani on Thursday.