An Indian politician is desperately seeking 600,000 cows to fulfil an election pledge but cannot find enough to keep his promise.
The BJP's Raman Singh, chief minister of the central Indian state of Chattisgarh, promised a cow to every tribal family while campaigning for provincial elections last December.
Mr Singh's government even allocated 310 million rupees (HK$53.6 million) to buy the first batch of cows but there seems to be an acute shortage.
Director of agriculture A.J.V.B. Prasad told The Indian Express he had despatched officials to drought-hit states such as Maharashtra and Rajasthan, where distress sales of cows are not uncommon. A further complication for Mr Singh is that the intended beneficiaries are known to eat beef, an affront to the BJP, which reveres the cow as holy and wants to enact a federal law to ban its slaughter. Three years ago, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's government even set up a national commission to ensure the welfare of cows.