Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said their demand is not new
Close on the heels of the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to rechristen Allahabad and Faizabad, Shiv Sena lawmaker Sanjay Raut Thursday sought to know when will the Maharashtra government rename the state's Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities.
The Yogi Adityanath government in UP had last month renamed Allahabad as "Prayagraj", and on Tuesday announced that Faizabad district will henceforth be known as Ayodhya.
Mr Raut in a tweet said, "Yogi Adityanath renamed Faizabad as Ayodhya, Allahabad as Prayagraj. When will (Maharashtra) Chief Minister Devendraji (Fadnavis) rechristen Aurangabad to Sambhaji Nagar and Osmanabad to Dharashiv."
Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said their demand to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad is not new.
"This has been our long standing demand and was raised several times, but the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) opposed it (when the parties were in power) to appease Muslim voters," she said.
The Gujarat government had also recently said that it was keen on rechristening Ahmedabad as Karnavati, if there were no legal hurdles.
Ayodhya is known around the world for Lord Ram and the festival of Diwali is celebrated due to the legend of him returning home from "vanvas" (exile).
Earlier this year, the Mughalsarai railway station in Uttar Pradesh was also renamed as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction.