Aurangabad name change: Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM slams Uddhav Thackeray, says 'great example of cheap...'

Mumbai: Asaduddin Owaisi's  All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has slammed the Uddhav Thackeray government's decision to rename Aurangabad. The party said the Shiv Sena leader took the decision as he had lost power. It also called the move "a great example of cheap politics". 

AIMIM MP from Aurangabad, Imtiaz Jaleel, said, " As they began losing power they took this decision... I want to tell Uddhav Ji that history can't be changed, can change names...You're setting a great example of cheap politics. Only people can decide which name of Aurangabad will stay". 

Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday night resigned as the Maharashtra Chief Minister, days after over 40 of his MLAs moved to Guwahati and pulled out support. The MLAs had claimed the Sena deviated from the path of Hindutva and entered an unnatural alliance with NCP and Congress. However, before resigning, the Maharashtra Cabinet approved remaining Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv.

The cabinet meeting chaired by Uddhav Thackeray also approved the naming of upcoming Navi Mumbai international airport after farmer leader late D B Patil. Interestingly, state planning agency CIDCO had earlier proposed to name the Navi Mumbai airport after late Bal Thackeray. 

Aurangabad was named after Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Shiv Sena had promised to rename the city decades ago. 

With inputs from PTI, ANI