The minister was quick to retract from his earlier statement and later told TOI that he did not want to get into the dispute and that "the two governments - Gujarat and MP - should sort the issue on their own." The minister visited Sasan Gir Sanctuary in Junagadh district on Thursday. Ever since 1986, the two governments have been fighting a battle over whether or not to relocate lions to MP for the Kuno Palpur project. A petition is also pending in the Supreme Court seeking directions for relocation of lions.
Talking to TOI over phone from Junagadh, he said "the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has made three to four representations to me asking to pressurise the Gujarat government to hand over lions. I have on one occasion asked the State Government to allocate lions, but now I have made it clear that it was between the two governments to fight it out and the union forest and environment ministry has no role to play. I have asked Chauhan to take it up with Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi." Read the full report here.
Source: Times News Network, Ahmedabad.
