Rattled by Jayanthi Natarajan’s outburst against Rahul Gandhi and the high command, the Congress hit back Friday but its reaction ended up being a self-goal: an explicit admission of corruption in the UPA II government. Rushing to the defence of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress said Jayanthi Natarajan was removed as environment minister in December 2013 in the wake of “serious allegations” of corruption against her. It even suggested that the ruling party could be in possession of “culpable material” against her which forced her to attack the Congress. Her former cabinet colleague Anand Sharma went to the extent of saying that top industrialists had told him in 2013 that files were being cleared from Chennai, Natarajan’s home town and that they were being asked to take the files to a particular OSD (officer on special duty) there. M Veerappa Moily, who succeeded her as environment minister, said she had held back many files which “surprised” him. “There were heaps of files. We were surprised because normally we never keep so many files pending for decisions.” Sharma claimed top industrialists complained about the state of affairs in the environment ministry during a CII roundtable meet in Mumbai in August, 2013. “In Mumbai, they did complain to me about her bitterly. They said in the presence of senior secretaries of the Government of India that files were cleared from Chennai. Specific complaints were made in their presence. Why should a cabinet minister take files home. I did not take files pertaining to my ministry to Shimla. They (industrialists) complained that they were asked to take the files to a particular OSD there. They told me that I should understand the reason when they were asked to go to a specific OSD,” he said, adding that “hundreds of files” had to be collected from Chennai after she resigned. At the AICC briefing, spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi alleged Natarajan was acting at the behest of her new “political masters” who may have got evidence against her. He said there was “serious allegations” against her which led to her removal. “It is clear that the pressure (has been) exerted by the same persons who coined the phrase Jayanti Tax and possibly all the culpable material which these persons have now. perhaps that is the reason for the press conference and the letter. We deprecate and condemn such pressure tactics. But that is the obvious reason,” Singhvi said. But no Congressman was ready to say why the UPA II government did not act against her after her resignation if they were aware of what she had done. Asked about it, Singhvi said there is a “difference between provable charges and information and serious allegations and removal for the latter is possible not necessary a legal proceeding. Serious allegations don’t mean legally chargeable, but they can certainly mean politically requiring a removal from the post like that of minister.” So, why didn’t the Congress come out with these facts earlier? “We exercised restraint. We are responding today to the lack of exercise of restraint by her,” Singhvi said. So wasn’t this an admission of corruption in the UPA II? “The UPA II being corrupt and serious charges against an individual are two, sky and earth, things,” Singhvi said. The Congress said there was nothing wrong in Rahul Gandhi raising issues of environmental protection with her when she was the minister. “Any Congress worker, any MP or MLA is entitled to bring to the minister’s attention complaints from aggrieved quarters and the minister should act,” Singhvi said.
