It seems that changing names of towns and cities is the latest tool of political parties to woo voters. Just days after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath changed the names of Allahabad and Faizabad district to Prayag Raj and Ayodhya, respectively, the Shiv Sena has reiterated its demand for change of names of two towns in Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena, which is a troubled ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has renewed its demand for changing the name of Aurangabad to Sambhaji Nagar and that of Osmanabad to Dharashiv. The party has claimed that it has been its long-standing demand.

“The demand for renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad to Sambhaji Nagar and Dharashiv, respectively, is not new with Shiv Sena,” Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande told news agency ANI.

She further accused the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of not accepting Shiv Sena’s demand because of its votebank politics. “This is our long-standing demand and this has been raised several times. But Congress and NCP opposed it to appease the Muslim voters,” she said.

This comes just days after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath declared during ‘Deepotsav 2018’ programme in Ayodhya that Faizabad district would henceforth be named after the holy town, which is the birthplace of lord Ram.

Meanwhile, there are also reports of Gujarat government planning to change the name of Ahmedabad to Karnavati. Speaking to mediapersons during an event in Gandhinagar, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said that the government could go for the move provided it gets the required support to clear the legal hurdles.