Live: Jayanthi Natarajan's accusations factually untrue, says Congress

4.25 pm: Jayanthi Natarajan spoke of any of these allegations ever, claims Congress Not just Natarajan, the Congress hit out at the BJP saying, “It is also clear that the same political masters at whose bidding she wrote the letter, had asked her told to hold the press conference because they see the ground slipping below them.” “Not once orally or in writing has she ever articulated any of these after falls and hence they are opportunistic,” he added. He said, “Whatever she said on snoopgate, and other issues are factually wrong.” 4.20 pm: Jayanthi Natarajan’s allegations hypocritical and untrue, says Congress The Congress in a press conference hit out at former minister Jayanthi Natarajan saying her ‘diatribe’ was not only hypocritical and untrue. In a scathing attack party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “It is saddening that someone who got important ministries and remained party spokesperson for a decade has chosen to unleash a diatribe that is hypocritical and factually untrue.” “It should be clear to her and to all that the persons and the political party and the persones at whose instance she wrote the letter are the ones who coined the phrase ‘Jayanthi Tax’,” he said. On the snoopgate allegations Singhvi said, “Friends from this podium four senior women of the Congress spoke of the snoopgate scandal. This is a partyline and if she along with others articulates a partyline how it is under force.” 4.10 pm: Jayanthi Natarajan definitely has ulterior motives, says Anand Sharma Congress leader and former Union Minister Anand Sharma hit out at Jayanthi Natarajan, saying there was an ulterior motive behind her maligning the Congress. “Jayanthi definitely has ulterior motives… I have read her letter, there was never any interference from Rahul Gandhi’s office,” he said. “She is maliciously presenting a direction of forwarding of a representation. There was only one time Rahul Gandhi had sent a special request during my tenure as minister. It was for the weavers. Should I be protesting about that?” Slamming her, he said, “She was given her post. She was not very popular in the party. One has to have some gratitude and truthfulness.” 1:30 pm: Congress to retaliate against charges, will Rahul turn up? The Congress is going to be addressing a press conference at 4 pm. Will Rahul Gandhi come out of his shell to address it? There’s no pig flying outside the window presently so we’ll have to assume it won’t happen. However, he would be the best person to address it simply because it’s the first time that he’s ever been implicitly accused of corruption before. He’s been accused of incompetence, insensitivity and many other things but this time its a little worse than that. Addressing the issue directly would help more than letting a party leader do it for him, which would only further the perception that he is incapable of defending himself. Staying silent on the matter would also imply guilt, which the Congress vice president, with his squeaky clean image, should ideally work to prevent. 1:20 pm: Review every past decision by environment ministry, says Minister of State for Commerce, Nirmala Sitharaman.  BJP’s Nirmala Sitharaman wants every decision by the UPA government to be reviewed and said that the decisions taken to delay environmental clearances had affected the nation’s economy that they were still trying to correct. “Clearly the party has been encouraging crony capitalism,” she said, adding that the Congress had been interfering with the functioning of the government She said it was time to review every decision taken at the time by the UPA government. 1:15 pm: Congress hits back: Natarajan lying, Rahul Gandhi could have been PM if he wanted The Congress is sticking to its stand that Natarajan is being coerced into speaking out and quitting the party. “Rahul Gandhi has never interfered in the functioning of any ministry. She is lying and misleading people,” Shobha Oza, Congress spokesperson said. Digvijaya Singh took a more diplomatic line and feigned ignorance about the entire matter initially. However, he denied that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had ever interfered in the functioning of the government. “Rahul Gandhi would be the last person to interfere in the functioning of the government. He could have become Prime Minister or a minister himself,” he said. 1:10 pm: Natarajan says she wishes the Congress well Natarajan refused to get drawn into a discussion on whether the Prime Minister was in control of the government and its policies. She however, refused to say anything against Gandhi or any other leader in the party. “I wish them well. I have come to you to make my anguish public. I wish them all well,” Natarajan said. 1:05 pm: Congress retaliates, says that Natarajan is being coerced by the govt The Congress party has responded. A party leader has alleged to Times Now that Jayanthi Natarajan is being coerced by the government to quit because it has papers proving corruption and that money had changed hands. Natarajan, however, at her press conference said that she had been seeking a meeting with the Congress leadership for a long time now but had not received an appointment at any point. The minister said that many ministers in the cabinet had sought that environment laws should be made easy to allow investment but she had decided to stick to the party’s line on tribals and forest rights. She maintained that she didn’t think it was the right idea to attack Modi on the ‘Snoopgate’ issue and had done so only because she was a loyal servant of the party. 1:00 pm: Modi justified in attacking me, why did my party mistreat me, says Natarajan She refuted allegations that she had been blackmailed to hold the press conference before the Delhi polls. “I have no connection with any corporate,” she said. She refused to lay the blame on any leader and said she was a small functionary. Natarajan said that no matter who had been environment minister, if they had been asked to resign just 100 days before the polls, it would have been assumed that person was corrupt. “Why was I removed? I still don’t have an answer,” she said. She said she was not accusing anyone of corruption and said that the Modi government was free to investigate her case. “Mr Modi was in the opposition and was justified in attacking me, I attacked him. But why did my own party treat me this way?” Natarajan said. She said she would welcome a CBI probe against her. 12:55 pm: Won’t be joining any other political party, says Natarajan The former minister said there wasn’t any interference but she had merely followed the directives of the party and hadn’t done anything wrong. “Whether Rahul Gandhi requested me or not, I only followed the rules. I was told in some cases there in no situation should there be environmental degradation and I took a hard line,” she said. Natarajan said she now planned to think about her life and future but had no intention of joining any party. 12:50 pm: Natarajan quits Congress, says no internal democracy in party Natarajan said that she had then been dropped from the list of the party’s spokespersons. She also clarified that she had no issue with the state unit of the party. She said that she had seen Rahul Gandhi’s speech at a Ficci conclave where he promised environmental clearances to industrialists and had written an impassioned letter to Gandhi asking him why he had said that. “He replied saying ‘I am busy right now, will talk to you later’ but that never materialised,” she said. She also questioned why the party’s leaders had been allowed to sully her reputation. “Why was everyone able to ruin my reputation?” Natarajan said, adding that she had decided to go to the media since there was no internal democracy in the party. “If anyone is able to show I did anything wrong then I am ready to be hanged. Or go to jail,” she said. And then she dropped the bombshell. “Today I announce my resignation from the primary membership of the Congress,” she said, adding that it meant that she no longer held any post in the party. 12:45 pm: Didn’t want to attack Modi on Snoopgate, says Natarajan She said that while she was travelling she was called by Ajay Maken to attack Narendra Modi on the ‘Snoopgate’ controversy. “I said we should attack him on policy and not issues such as this. But he said that it was a decision from the highest level,” Natarajan said. She said that the PM had called her to his office soon after. “He looked very grim. He said ‘Madam has said you are required for party work’,” she said, adding that he had then told her to resign. She said she tendered her resignation and had even contacted Sonia Gandhi who said that she was required for party work. Natarajan said that after that allegations of wrongdoing were spread after that. She said she had sought to counter the charges but was told not to by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. 12:40 pm: Rahul Gandhi’s office sent letters from NGOs on environment damage, says Natarajan Natarajan said she had been taught to follow the rule of law at all times but after she had become the environment minister she had received many letters from the office of Rahul Gandhi from NGOs seeking to highlight environmental damage. “I was asked by his office and him to ensure environment was protected at all costs…I did my duty, I did due diligence and some of them I had stopped,” she said. She said there had been many heated discussions in the Cabinet and she had faced their wrath. Among the projects that had been stalled were the Niyamgiri project by Vedanta, the Nirma plant and the Adani project, she said. “Specifically on the Adani project, there were many letters from NGOs on environment violations,” Natarajan said. “I was a good environment minister,” she said. 12:30 pm: Jayanthi Natarajan says Congress no longer the party she had joined After a brief scramble for a mic, Natarajan started her press conference by thanking the media for attending the press conference. She said was not intending to hold a press conference but had done so after her letter had appeared in the press she had decided to hold it. She acknowledged the letter had been written by her. “It is an extremely painful and heart rending day for me since my family has been associated with the Congress since its inception,” she said, adding that she was a fourth generation member of the Congress. She said she had decided to rethink her position in the Congress since the party that she had joined with ideals had changed considerably. Natarajan thanked the party for giving her the opportunity to represent the party in the Rajya Sabha and pointed out she had served the nation and the party ‘without blemish’. “I serve the nation and party with tremendous dedication,” she said. 12:00 pm: Veerappa Moily defends Rahul Gandhi While we wait for the former environment minister’s press conference, her successor at the ministry, Veerappa Moily, has defended the Congress and its vice president. “It looks stage managed,” he told Times Now. 10:15 am: Congress’s PC Chacko wishes Natrajan all the best Congress’s PC Chacko has said that Natarajan is welcome to leave and the party had seen many people leave before and had survived it. He also denied that allegations she had levelled against the party and speaking to Times Now said that she was in a prominent enough position to have her concerns addressed. [caption id=“attachment_2071747” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AFP image[/caption] 10:00 am: Jaitley says Natarajan’s exit proof of party interfering in the government Natarajan’s letter to Sonia Gandhi “conclusively establishes” that it was not the statutory or mandatory considerations which weighed with the Congress but only “whims” of the leaders, the Finance Minister charged. “I hope the Environmental ministry now will go into each of these permissions which were granted and not granted and make sure that these are expeditiously dealt with only as per law and no other consideration,” Jaitley said. He said Natarajan’s letter “conclusively establishes” that it was not the statutory or mandatory considerations which weighed with the ruling party. “But what weighed with them was the whims of political leaders of the party as to who is to be granted environmental permission and who is not to be granted an environmental permission,” the Finance Minister said. In a scenario where whims overtake legal requirements, it becomes a textbook case of “crony capitalism, which the UPA was practising,” he said. 9:00 am: Natarajan set to quit Congress, explosive letter against Rahul Gandhi leaked In a major embarrassment for the Congress party days ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls, Jayanthi Natarajan, who was sacked as Environment minister three months ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls has quit the Congress after what she terms has been a period of ’excruciating mental agony and public humiliation.’ The NDTV channel confirmed that Natarajan had resigned, following media reports, that the veteran Congress leader was unhappy at how the party completely sidelined her, and have not yet given her a reason for why she was asked to step down as minister a day ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s address to FICCI where he assured industrial leaders that the government would ensure a investor-friendly environment. In a November 2014 letter addressed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, that has been exclusively accessed by The Hindu, Natarajan slammed the Congress chief as well as party vice president Rahul Gandhi, saying his officers planted stories against her in the media immediately after she quit the cabinet in 2013 saying her resignation was not for ‘party work’ as officially stated. Writing that she trusted Sonia with her entire life and not for a moment did she think twice about resigning when asked to work for the party, Natarajan questioned the Congress chief over why she has been constantly refused a party position and even sacked as an official spokesperson and not allowed to speak to the media. Read more here