Did ask Jayanthi Natarajan to protect environment and tribals: Rahul Gandhi

Congress vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday for the first time rebutted claims made by former Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan, saying he stood for the protection of the environment and the rights of tribals and would continue to do so.

Speaking at a political rally in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area, Rahul said: ““Ek din maine Modiji ke baare mein kuch kaha, agle din unhone Natrajan ko khada kiya (One day, I said something about Modi, the very next day, he put up Natarajan). Yes, I asked Jayanthi to protect the environment, the poor and the tribals. I’m not afraid of saying it and I will continue to do so.”

In November last year, Natrajan in a letter  to Congress president Sonia Gandhi that was made public in January 2015, demanded to know why she was sacked as environment minister barely 100 days ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

She mentioned in her letter that she was not a ‘bottle-neck’ in the development process and whatever decisions she had taken were on the advise of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party’s ideology.

This is what Natrajan had said in her letter:

“I received specific requests from Shri Rahul Gandhi and his office forwarding environmental concerns in some important areas and I took care to honour those ‘requests’,” she wrote.

“The day after I resigned, Shri Rahul Gandhi addressed a FICCI meeting of industrialists, where he made uncomplimentary references to delays in environmental clearances, and the adverse effects upon the economy, and assured the corporate world, that the party and government would henceforth ensure that there would be no delays, and bottlenecks for industry,” Natrajan had said in her letter, suggesting that she was sacked because the party wanted to appear pro-industry .

The Congress immediately hit out at the veteran leader saying “making such allegations were unfair.”

“Everybody is free to resign from the party for personal reasons, no one is stopping them,” Congress leader PC Chacko said.