T1 killing row: Sudhir Mungantiwar hints Maneka Gandhi must quit too

MUMBAI: After Maneka Gandhi's attack on him after the killing of tigress T1 by forest officials in Yavatmal and her demand to CM Devendra Fadnavis to sack him, Maharashtra's forest minister

Sudhir Mungantiwar

said on Tuesday that as women and child development minister, she also needed to take moral responsibility for deaths due to malnutrition across the country.


Mungantiwar said "the same rule should be applicable to both ministers" and added, "My commitment is not with Maneka Gandhi but with my party (BJP) and the tribal community, farmers and the people. She loves only wildlife, however, I love

wildlife

and people as well," he said.

The minister added that when Maneka Gandhi wrote to CM Fadnavis demanding his resignation, she should have added a line saying that if the CM does not sack him in eight days, she would tender her resignation. "Gandhi is a big leader compared to me, so she should have added that line in her letter, that would have been better," Mungantiwar said. He said his party and the CM would take a decision on his resignation.

The clash between the two BJP leaders erupted after the alleged man-eater T1 aka Avni was killed by a team of forest officials. Maneka Gandhi took to social media on Sunday and called the tigress' killing a "ghastly murder" and a "straight case of crime."

Mungantiwar challenged Maneka Gandhi to constitute an inquiry at any level and offered to extend all cooperation. "I am ready to face any inquiry. Even if Maneka Gandhi wants an international expert to conduct an inquiry. Or maybe the Union government can have a probe conducted through the

National Tiger Conservation Authority

," he said.

The tigress, believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 13 people in two years, is survived by two cubs, both ten months old.