Swami Akhileshwaranand
Swami AkhileshwaranandANI

Following his elevation to the rank of a cabinet minister in the Madhya Pradesh (MP) government, Swami Akhileshwaranand on Wednesday appealed to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to form a cow ministry in the state.

The minister pointed to the cow secretariat in Rajasthan and the ministry for happiness in MP and said that a cow ministry would boost welfare in the state. Akhileshwaranand seems to be of the opinion that it would help attract a bigger budget to the state.

Part of his plan is also to remove the cow from the category of animal.

He (the chief minister) told me that he will restore all the cow-houses, and there will be no shortage of funds, there just needs to be the willpower and commitment towards the cause. Now I am even more hopeful as he was the chairman of National Agriculture and MGNREGA committee," Akhileshwaranand said, while speaking to ANI.

"The state gets 15,000 Cr under the scheme. I asked them how much they spend, they told me they could hardly spend half of it. So I asked them why was there this lapse, you are a part of the Cow Protection Board, provide me with a budget of 1000 Cr, I have a strong willpower for my cause, they told me I was not making any unconstitutional demand, they will back me," he added.

Akhileshwaranand, formerly the state's Cow Protection Board chairperson, was elevated to the rank of a Cabinet Minister recently on June 13. He was earlier given Minister of State (MoS) rank.

[With inputs from ANI]