Uddhav Thackeray asks Centre to rename Aurangabad airport after Chhatrapati Sambhaji

In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri, the Maharashtra CM informed about the state cabinet's decision to rename the airport and urged the Centre to issue a notification.

File photo of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray in Pune | Twitter: @CMOMaharashtra

Mumbai: Amid a row over the demand to change the name of Aurangabad, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday urged the Centre to issue a notification at the earliest for renaming the Aurangabad Airport after Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.

Thackeray has written a letter to this effect to Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

In the letter, the chief minister has told Puri about the state cabinet’s decision to rename the airport after Chhatrapati SambhajiMaharaj, son of Maratha warrior king Shivaji Maharaj.

“A unanimous resolution has also been passed in both the houses of the state legislature,” he said in the letter.

The Maharashtra cabinet had in March 2020 decided to rename the Aurangabad Airport after Sambhaji Maharaj. The airport is situated in Chikhalthana area of Aurangabad.

The Shiv Sena, which shares power with the NCP and the Congress in Maharashtra, has been demanding for the past couple of decades that Aurangabad be renamed as Sambhajinagar.

However, Congress has said that it was against any such move.