New Delhi: The Centre on Friday approved the renaming of Maharashtra’s Aurangabad and Osmanabad, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

The Centre approved the Maharashtra cabinet’s proposal of changing the names of the two cities Aurangabad to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad to Dharashiv.

Earlier last week, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh had told the Bombay High Court that the Central government has given its no objection to the name change of Osmanabad city. However, the decision on changing the name of Auranagabad city was still pending.

Deputy CM Fadnavis tweeted two letters from the Ministry of Home Affairs to the deputy secretary of the state General Administration Department on Friday.

➡️ औरंगाबादचे ‘छत्रपती संभाजीनगर’,
➡️ उस्मानाबादचे ‘धाराशिव’ !
राज्य सरकारच्या निर्णयाला केंद्र सरकारची मंजुरी !
मा. पंतप्रधान नरेंद्र मोदीजी आणि केंद्रीय मंत्री मा. अमितभाई शाह यांचे कोटी-कोटी आभार!
मुख्यमंत्री @mieknathshinde जी यांच्या नेतृत्त्वातील सरकारने ‘करुन दाखविले’…! pic.twitter.com/IfXbdFec7r

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) February 24, 2023

The letters stated that the Centre had no objection to the change in the names of the two Maharashtra cities.

He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the decision. The state government headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde “did what was promised”, Fadnavis added.

The Centre on Friday approved both the change of names, thereby, completing the long-standing demand of some political parties as well as people of the state.

It is to be noted that Aurangabad got its name from Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, while Osmanabad was named after a 20th century ruler of the princely state of Hyderabad.

Chhatrapati Sambhaji, the eldest son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was the second ruler of the Maratha state founded by his father. Later, Chhatrapati Sambhaji was executed on Aurangzeb’s orders in 1689.

Dharashiv is the name of a cave complex near Osmanabad and it dates back to the 8th century, according to experts.

It is to be noted that renaming Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv was the decision of the last cabinet of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government that collapsed last June following Shinde’s rebellion against then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.