Opposition snarls at Eknath Shinde government over naming of tiger cub in Maharashtra

A seemingly trivial incident of naming three tiger cubs led to a political controversy in Maharashtra on Sunday after a chit apparently carrying the name ‘Aditya’ was taken back and replaced with another one.

Opposition leaders linked the name to Aaditya Thackeray, who was a minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government that collapsed last year after a rebellion by present Chief Minister Eknath Shinde resulted in an acrimonious split in the Shiv Sena. The incident unfolded in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city when CM Shinde, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar were invited to a function to name two male and one female tiger cubs.

After Shinde took out one chit from a glass bowl, visuals of the event showed, Ajit Pawar was requested to pick a chit from another container. With a smile, Pawar displayed the note to someone, and in the background, a voice confirmed it as "Aditya" while suggesting another choice. Pawar then selected a second note, which revealed the name Vikram. Ultimately, the three cubs were named Shravani, Vikram, and Kanha. However, the presence of the initial note with the name Aditya provided opposition leaders with an opportunity to criticize the Shinde government.

Leader of the opposition in the legislative council Ambadas Danve and Shiv Sena (UBT) said, Whether from this world (referring to Aaditya Thackeray) or the sky (Sun is also called Aditya), no one can stop Aaditya. This government is even scared of his name,” he said. Mungantiwar said, “uch petty issues should not be discussed. A cub born in the wild cannot be named, but the one born here in the zoo gets a name. We are not scared of any Aditya. Local MP and AIMIM leader Imtiaz Jaleel sarcastically said there was no need to choose any other names for the cubs. The cubs could have been named Devendra, Ajit and Eknath. He called the episode “low level of politics”. “I do not want to make any further comment on this, he added.