SP MLA Azmi urges Thackeray to stop politics around changing name of Aurangabad

Amid a row over the name change of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar, the SP MLA Abu Azmi wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar urging them to stop politics around changing the name of Aurangabad.

"These days, politics is being played by changing the name of Aurangabad. If changing the name (of a city) helps in its development, then names must be changed. but in that case, Raigad should be named Sambhajinagar and Maharashtra be named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who was an idol of the harmony between Hindus and Muslims," Azmi said in a letter written on January 5."Or, else, Maharashtra should be named Swarajya. If you are unable to do this, then stop these politics around changing the name of Aurangabad," he further wrote.

A controversy has broken out over the state government's plans to change the name of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar.

Earlier, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut made it clear that the Maharashtra government was clear on renaming the city after Sambhaji, the warrior son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

( With inputs from ANI )