MUMBAI: Maharastra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday decided to rename the Aurangabad district as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv.

Speaking to the media after a cabinet meeting, Shinde said that Aurangabad will be rechristened as 'Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar' and Osmanabad shall be renamed as 'Dharashiv'. The upcoming new international airport shall be rechristened after D. B. Patil, a prominent leader from Konkan, he added.

These proposals shall be passed in the legislature and then sent to the Central government for its approval, they said.  The three decisions were taken by the former Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in its final cabinet meeting before it fell on June 29.

They said that since those decisions were 'illegal' as the former government had been reduced to a minority, the same has been cleared again. Shiv Sena leaders from Aurangabad, appreciated the decision and said that the credit for the renaming goes only to the late Balasaheb Thackeray.

'If even a single MLA loses election, I will quit politics,' CM Shinde's open challenge to Uddhav

Uddhav furious over attack on Shiv Sainiks, said- 'If police can't give punishment, we...'

Eknath Shinde's statement came to light after meeting Shah-Nadda