Shiv Sena rebels, BJP to jointly contest Aurangabad civic polls

The rebel Shiv Sena group led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Bharatiya Janata Party will contest the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation elections in alliance, a rebel faction functionary said on Thursday.

The AMC polls are due although the dates are yet to be announced.

The Shiv Sena and the BJP had earlier ruled the civic body for over three decades.

After the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena joined hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress to form government in the state in 2019, AMC's deputy mayor Vijay Autade, who was from the BJP, had resigned.

"Now the Shinde group and the BJP will contest the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation elections together. Primary discussions have already been held on this," the Shinde faction's district chief Rajendra Janjal told PTI.

He claimed the development of Aurangabad began when the previous Maharashtra government led by Devendra Fadnavis started giving funds for the city. 

Janjal also claimed that some of the former corporators, who had won the AMC polls as part of the Thackeray-led Sena, were now in touch with the Shinde group.

On the issue of renaming Aurangabad as 'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar', he said the people who have initiated a legal process against changing the name of the city belong to the NCP.

"People now know who really wants the renaming of Aurangabad," he said.

Notably, the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government under Thackeray had decided to rename the city as Sambhajinagar in its last cabinet meeting on June 29 this year.

The new government led by CM Shinde earlier this month passed a fresh proposal that will see Marathwada's biggest city being called ’Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar'.

A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed on Wednesday in the Bombay high court challenging the Maharashtra government's decision to change the name of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar.

The petition filed by Mohammed Mushtaq Ahmed, Annasaheb Khandare and Rajesh More, all residents of Aurangabad, is likely to be heard by the HC on August 1.