Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA and former minister Jitu Patwari has been suspended from the state assembly for the entire ongoing budget session for his remarks over transfer of wild animals from Indore and Bhopal to a zoo owned by Reliance chief Mukesh Ambani in Gujarat.
Jitu Patwari was suspended by the Assembly Speaker following a motion moved by Legislative Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra. The motion came after a heated exchange of words between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress over Patwaris' remarks on the transfer of the lions and tigers from Bhopal and Indore in Madhya Pradesh to the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre Society (GZRRC) owned by the Ambanis in Gujarat.
Also read: MP: Mukesh Ambani gets Tiger Pancham for Gujarat zoo
Patwari while commenting on the government's reply over the transfer of the animals to Gujarat said that the MP government had gifted away the lions and tigers to the zoo and got "lizards, parrots and other birds in return". However, Legislative Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra objected to MLA Jitu Patwari's allegations.
Mishra asked Patwari to come up with a documentary proof of his allegations. The minister later moved a motion in the house against Patwari. The Congress MLA was later suspedned from the remaining period of the session of the Madhya Pradesh assembly. It can be recalled that a three-and-a-half-year-old tiger named Pancham was transferred from Van Vihar in Madhya Pradesh to Green Zoological Rescue and the Rehabilitation Kingdom which was set up by the Reliance group in Gujarat.
Likewise, two tigers of Govind Ballabh Pant Zoo in Uttarakhand's Nainital were also shifted to the Ambani owned zoo in Gujarat's Jamnagar. The zoo now boasts of two males and four female Asiatic Lions, two male and three female Gharials, two male and six female Bengal Foxes among others.
