Aurangabad renaming: After ruffled feathers, MVA to decide at the table

Mumbai, Jan 7 : After nearly a fortnight long war of words, the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies have decided to sit at the table and hammer out a solution to the ticklish issue of renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar.
The matter, which almost brought the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress alliance to the brink — as the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party watched in anticipation — is likely to be resolved ‘amicably’, said a Congress source.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his Shiv Sena are rooting for the rechristening of the historical tourist city while the Congress and other parties have vigorously opposed it. The NCP has kept quiet and stuck to the middle ground that it does not want to ‘politicize the issue’.
The BJP leaders have thrown the gauntlet at the Shiv Sena and even asked whether it would be cowed down by the other two ruling partners on the issue that was the dream of the late Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray.
The renaming has willy-nilly acquired political overtones in view of the civic elections due in the city sometime this year. All the political parties hope to capitalize through their respective stance.
The matter came to a boil on Wednesday (January 6) night when state Congress President and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat vented his ire at the Directorate General of Information & Public Relations — overseen by Thackeray — for referring to Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar while publicizing a government statement.