Rahul blocked Vedanta, Sonia ignored me: Jayanthi Natarajan's key allegations

Former UPA minister and veteran Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan on Friday quit the party after what she called repeated humiliation by a party that her family has served for four generations. “I cannot continue in this suffocation, I resign as a primary member of the Congress,” she told media persons at a press conference this afternoon, shortly after a letter she wrote to Congress President Sonia Gandhi in November last year, went public. [caption id=“attachment_2071897” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan. AFP[/caption] In the letter, Natarajan suggested that it was at the behest of party vice president Rahul that she was forced to quit her ministry 100 days before the general elections and she is yet to be provided a reason for her sudden expulsion from party affairs. She also said she was extremely hurt by the manner in which she was treated and that she was not ashamed to call herself “an utter loyalist of the Gandhi family… I was with the body of Rajiv Gandhi the whole night when he was assassinated.” Here are the key take aways from Jayanthi’s letter to Sonia that has been carried by The Hindu. * PMO, Rahul ‘requests’ to the Environment ministry Jayanthi writes that during her approximate two-year term as environment minister, she “strictly followed the laws and rules and tried to protect the environment, in keeping with the legacy of Smt. Indira Gandhi and Shri Rajiv Gandhi”. But she adds that she took care to honour ‘requests’ made by Rahul Gandhi, which she says were treated as directives. “I received specific requests [which used to be directives for us] from Shri Rahul Gandhi and his office forwarding environmental concerns in some important areas and I took care to honour those “requests.” The letter also claims that she followed directives by Rahul’s office and rejected an environmental clearance to Vendanta despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in the then cabinet, and huge criticism from the industry for what was described as “stalling” a Rs 30,000 crore investment from Vedanta. Jayanthi also claims that despite her following the party line on environmental issues, her decisions were expressly overruled by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “In several cases including the stalled GVK power project regarding the Dhari Devi temple in Himachal Pradesh, the Lavasa project in Maharashtra, the Nirma cement plant in Gujarat and in several other cases I was given specific inputs, to make my decision. Apart from this, Shri Pulok Chatterji, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister was in constant touch with me, and officers of the Ministry in guiding the decisions to be taken by the Ministry at that time.” ‘Forced to attack Narendra Modi on Snoopgate’ In the letter Jayanthi also claims she was forced by the high command to attack Narendra Modi, who was then BJP’s PM candidate, despite being a minister in the government and her initial refusal to do so. “While I was still a minister, an important matter which has caused me great agitation is the fact that I was called upon to attack the present Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on what is referred to in the media as ‘Snoopgate’. Despite the fact that I initially refused, because I thought that the party should attack Shri Modi on policy and governance and not drag an unknown woman into a controversy,” Jayanti said, adding that she had no choice in the matter and was forced to address the media by then media chief Ajay Maken. “After the press conference throughout the controversy which followed I was told by Shri Maken to fiercely attack Shri Modi, on TV channels and during debates, although I was otherwise never fielded in the media after appointment as minister,” she added. ‘GK Vasan quitting forced Congress to contact me’ An interesting point that Jayanthi makes in her letter to Sonia, is that the party only contacted her after reports surfaced that then senior Congress leader GK Vasan was quitting the party to re-launch the Tamil Maanila Congress - TMC(M). “It was only on the day before Shri Vasan left, that I received my first ever communication from AICC in the form of a telephone call from Shri Motilal Vora, who wanted to know what my stand was regarding Shri Vasan, and what my future course of action would be. Until Shri Vasan left, nobody even spoke to me. This was the reason that people began to speculate that I had become a scapegoat for the economic problems of the UPA government.” What this means is that with the Tamil Nadu Congress already facing a crisis, there could well be a possibility of Jayanthi forming a part of the TMC(M). Speculation is also rife that P Chidambaram’s son Karti, who has been taking on the Tamil Nadu party chief EVKS Elangovan, could quit the party and join Vasan. How the Congress high command forced her to resign Expressing her complete surprise by the Congress chief’s move to ask her to resign just 100 days before the elections, Jayanthi said a tense and grim looking Dr. Manmohan Singh summoned her to his office. “When I entered he stood up from his chair, looking, and uttered these exact words. He said ‘Jayanthi, I have been told by Congress President, that your services are required for party work.’ I was puzzled, and I said, “Yes Sir. So what should I do?” He replied, “She wants you to resign.” I was shocked and said, ‘Resign Sir? But when?’ He replied ‘Today.’ I once again asked him if this was what the Congress president wished. He answered in the affirmative.” After news reports about her resignation emerged, she claimed “friends in the Delhi media had then informed me that Rahul Gandhi’s office was telephoning them and saying my resignation was not for party work…I was not given a reason by the party. Post that, there were allegations and defaming things about me said in the press”. Resignation and Rahul Gandhi’s U-turn at FICCI In her press conference today, as well as in her letter to Sonia, Jayanthi said she was extremely hurt by the manner in which Rahul Gandhi made it appear as if she was a bottleneck in the development process by delaying clearances to several major infrastructure projects. “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. After being alerted by the media, I saw the entire speech on YouTube. It was then that some in the media questioned me if I had been asked to resign immediately, to enable Shri Rahul Gandhi to address FICCI and the corporate world with the news of my resignation in the background.” “If he had a problem he could have asked me to grant the clearances faster. The next day after I resigned, he tells Ficci that the process will now be quicker. It was Rahul and his own office that would forward letters from NGOs complaining about violations and concerns against several projects and ask me to look into it.” Why are Sonia, Rahul still ignoring me? Throughout her letter as well as in the press conference she held, Jayanthi expresses her ‘sorrow’ that the party has not been responding to her repeated requests to have a meeting with Sonia or Rahul. “I have lost track of how many times I have asked for a meeting with Sonia or Rahul. I must have called at least a 100 times but I was never given a chance. This letter, that must have reached her office by the first week of December has not even be acknowledged by madam Gandhi.” She also stated that she wrote a very passionate email to Rahul about his comments at Ficci but he didn’t give her a reply except that ‘he was busy and would meet her soon’. In her letter, she states: “Madam, most respectfully, I request you to kindly let me know at least now, what wrongdoing I am alleged to have committed to be subject to such repeated humiliation. If indeed I am alleged to have done anything wrong, I do not understand the reason why this was not placed before me, and why I was not given an opportunity to defend myself for 11 long months. I am sure you will understand how important it is for me to protect my reputation and that of my family. Without a single word being said I have been humiliated for 11 months. I would be grateful if you would be so gracious as to at least understand my anguish,” she wrote.