Maneka Gandhi’s pet Animal Welfare Department, which looked rather bereft after she resigned from the Union Cabinet, may find a minister to call its own. Former film star and current Minister of State for Tourism, Vinod Khanna, is one of two very enthusiastic souls wanting to take charge of the department. Khanna said the idea of working for animal welfare appealed to him. ‘‘I am interested in animal welfare and I am trying to get the department,’’ he told The Indian Express. He’s facing direct competition from Gumman Mal Lodha, chairman of the Animal Welfare Board which comes under the department’s purview. Though Animal Welfare has very little to do with Programme Implementation and Statistics, it was tagged on to the ministry when Maneka came along. Though Vijay Goel has taken over from where Maneka left off, there were reports that he wasn’t too interested in this Maneka legacy. In fact, sources claim it’s he who roped Khanna in. ‘‘Goel has asked Vinod Khanna to take over the department,’’ ministry sources said. Khanna has some pro-animal qualifications on his resume: he has been a patron of the Delhi-based Pet Animal Welfare Society for the last three years. R T Sharma, the society’s president, said, ‘‘Khanna has been our patron alongwith designers Ritu Beri and Jatin Kocchar. He has been there whenever we needed him.’’ Sources in the department also floated the names of Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh and Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi for the post. Singh’s ministry, ironically, handles animal husbandry. ‘‘What is animal husbandry but a slaughter house?’’ Lodha wanted to know. ‘‘How can a department which opens slaughter houses and breeds animals for slaughter be entrusted with animal welfare?’’ Lodha claimed that there was a move to name him as the department head when Maneka was minister, But the BJP leader from Rajasthan said he ‘‘didn’t have the courage’’ to formally ask for the department after Gandhi’s exit. ‘‘I would be misunderstood as hankering after power,’’ he said. The department has a Rs 20-crore budget.
