Jairam Ramesh slams PM Modi over his criticism of previous govts on Cheetah re-introduction

Mr. Ramesh shared a letter in which he had asked Mr. Ranjitsinh to prepare a roadmap for the reintroduction of the Cheetah and include a detailed analysis of different potential sites.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday shared a letter on Twitter which, he said, initiated 'Project Cheetah' in 2009 and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being a "pathological liar" for criticising previous governments of not making constructive efforts to reintroduce the big cat in India.

Prime Minister Modi on Saturday hit out at the previous governments, saying no constructive efforts were made to reintroduce cheetahs in India after they became extinct from the country seven decades ago.

Mr. Modi had made the remarks after releasing three of the eight cheetahs flown in from Namibia into special enclosures in the Kuno National Park (KNP) in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh.

"This was the letter that launched Project Cheetah in 2009. Our PM is a pathological liar. I couldn't lay my hands on this letter yesterday because of my preoccupation with the Bharat Jodo Yatra," Mr. Ramesh tweeted.

Along with the tweet he shared the letter he, as then Minister for Environment and Forests, had written to M.K. Ranjitsinh of the Wildlife Trust of India in 2009.

In the letter, Mr. Ramesh had asked Mr. Ranjitsinh to prepare a roadmap for the reintroduction of the Cheetah and include a detailed analysis of different potential sites.

There was no immediate reaction from the BJP on Mr. Ramesh's remarks.