Days after the central government approved the renaming of Maharashtra's Aurangabad and Osmanabad as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Dharashiv respectively, a Bharatiya Janta Party leader on Monday demanded the renaming of Ahmednagar as Ahilya Nagar.
"Ahmednagar City 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," BJP MLC Gopichand Padalkar said.
Ahilyabai Holkar, the hereditary noble queen of the Maratha Empire, was born in Chondi village of Ahmednagar district.
"I am confident that a decision on the renaming of Ahmednagar will be taken under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis," he added.
The Union government has approved the renaming of Maharashtra's Aurangabad city as 'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar' and the Osmanabad city as 'Dharashiv'.
Aurangabad derives its name from Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, while Osmanabad was named for a 20th century ruler of the princely state of Hyderabad.
Chhatrapati Sambhaji, the eldest son of warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was the second ruler of the Maratha state founded by his father. Sambhaji Maharaj was executed on Aurangzeb's orders in 1689.
Dharashiv, the name of a cave complex near Osmanabad, dates back to the 8th century as per some scholars.
Notably, to rename Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv was the last cabinet decision of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government which collapsed last June following Shinde's rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray.
The new government headed by Shinde scrapped the cabinet decision and took a fresh decision.
