Sena hits outs at BJP over demand for renaming Aurangabad
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Monday slammed Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil for demanding that the city of Aurangabad be renamed as 'Sambhajinagar' after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's elder son, Sambhaji.
An editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' reminded the BJP that"Aurangabad was renamed as Sambhajinagar by Sena supremo late Balasaheb Thackeray 25 years ago".
The central Maharashtra city, now a prominent industry centre, was given its name by the 17th century Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
Patil last week demanded that the Shiv Sena-led state government rename Aurangabad as 'Sambhajinagar'.
The BJP leader said "we are descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his son Sambhaji Maharaj, and not of Aurangzeb. Therefore Aurangabad should be renamed as Sambhajinagar by resolving all technical difficulties".
Taking a dim view of Patil's remarks, the Shiv Sena said, "What was the need for him to saythey are descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Nobody here is a descendant of Aurangazeb."
The BJP has been taking Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's name in the last five years. But now, they have the "audacity" to compare Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, it said while referring to the controversial book, titled 'Aaj ke Shivaji: Narendra Modi'.
The BJP was in power in the state for last five years and it is still ruling at the Centre, the Shiv Sena noted.
"Why didn't you (BJP) rename Aurangabad? Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has changed the name of Allahabad and other cities of UP. The BJP needs to remember that Aurangabad was renamed as Sambhinagar 25 years ago by Balasaheb," the Marathi daily said.
It sid the BJP has neither given Bharat Ratna to Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar nor laid a single brick for Chhatrapati Shivaji's memorial in Mumbai.
"It only wants to play politics over nationalism," the Uddhav Thackeray-led party alleged.
Notably, it was the Shiv Sena, the BJP's friend- turned-foe, which had first demanded renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar decades ago.
A proposal to rename the city was passed by the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation in June 1995, but it was challenged by a Congress corporator in the high court and later in the Supreme Court and made no further progress.
The Sena also reminded the BJP that the Ram temple in Ayodhya will come up only because of the SupremeCourt.
In its verdict last year, the apex court paved the way for the construction of Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site at Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a "prominent" place in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh.
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Karnataka tanks hold strong water storage: Minister Boseraju
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Minister N S Boseraju on Tuesday said that minor irrigation tanks across the state are holding good water storage levels, with the 3,788 tanks under the department’s jurisdiction providing life-sustaining water to a large agricultural command area of approximately 4,45,009 hectares.
In a statement, the Minister for Minor Irrigation, Boseraju, said that according to the latest data released by the department, a vast majority of the 3,788 minor irrigation tanks in the state have maintained good water levels.
Detailing the storage status, the report said that even in peak summer, 165 tanks are full.
Additionally, 1,355 tanks have retained more than 51 per cent capacity, 1,143 tanks have water levels up to 50 per cent, and 959 tanks are at roughly 30 per cent storage capacity.
District-wise, Davanagere leads the state in water storage, with 27 tanks remaining full even during summer. Chikkamagaluru follows closely with 46 full tanks, indicating strong water retention.
Other top-performing districts include Hassan, Tumakuru, and Kolar.
Boseraju, who also holds the portfolio of Science and Technology, said 1,184 tanks are being actively filled through 145 tank-filling lift irrigation projects under the Minor Irrigation Department.
He attributed the strong water retention to good monsoon rainfall and effective water management strategies of the government.
“It is encouraging to see such a substantial volume of water stored across our minor irrigation tanks by the end of March, remaining largely intact even as summer progresses. The fact that 1,355 tanks are nearly full and 165 tanks are brimming is a testament to the success of our tank-filling programmes and rejuvenation initiatives,” he said.
“By ensuring a continuous flow of water to these tanks through lift irrigation projects across departments, as well as supplying treated and surface water to the Bayaluseeme districts, we have taken proactive measures to prevent them from drying out during the summer,” the minister said.
According to him, these data points confirm that efforts to build a water-secure Karnataka are yielding strong results at the grassroots level.
“This water wealth preserved in our tanks will bring direct benefits to lakhs of farmers across the 4,45,009-hectare command area,” he added.
