Maharashtra Congress chief trolled for linking cheetahs to lumpy skin disease

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Monday sought to link the spread of lumpy virus disease among cattle to the cheetahs brought from Namibia and released last month in the Kuno National Park in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. The lumpy virus disease has caused thousands of cattle deaths across the country, including Maharashtra.

Talking to reporters in Bhandara, Patole alleged that, for the first time, to destroy farmers, diseases like the lumpy virus were being brought to India. “Lumpy virus disease is spreading from Nigeria. We brought cheetahs from Nigeria. There was an event on this on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday (September 17),” he said.

Reacting to the comments, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted “cheetahs were brought to India from Namibia, and not Nigeria" and tagged Patole.

Will poverty, unemployment, inflation end by bringing cheetahs to India and can farmers and the country's borders be secure by bringing these cheetahs, Patole further questioned. “But by making this (bringing cheetahs to India) an event and bringing foreign disease to the country…never before cows and oxen have died due to such disease. For the first time, to destroy the farmers, such diseases are being brought to India,” Patole alleged.

He said farmers now know the true face of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and will soon show the ruling dispensation its place. On September 17, eight cheetahs arrived in the country from Namibia by a special flight and were released by Prime Minister Modi in the Kuno National Park.