Jayanthi paid compliment to Rahul

NEW DELHI, January 31, 2015 (Agency) Unfazed by former Union Minister of State for Environment Jayanthi Natarajan’s disclosures in The Hindu , the Congress on Friday sought to portray her charge of interference against vice-president Rahul Gandhi as a compliment, since by her own admission he was taking up cudgels for tribal people and the poor.“Every Congress worker and legislator is entitled to communicate the concerns of the people to the government,” said Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi.Though the Congress pointedly accused her of writing the letter to party president Sonia Gandhi and releasing it to the public at the behest of “her new political masters,” Mr. Singhvi did not name the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, he made it amply clear who he had in mind by repeatedly referring to “those who coined the phrase Jayanthi tax.”Describing the contents of Ms. Natarajan’s letter and subsequent press conference as “entirely hypocritical” and “factually untrue,” Mr. Singhvi said: “She appears to be



in a minority... in protesting that she does not know the reason for her removal. It should be seen that the persons, political party and corporate interests at whose behest she acted are the ones who coined the phrase Jayanthi tax.”Hinting that she could have been pressured into writing the letter because of “culpable material” they might have laid their hands on now, the Congress — while criticising such pressure tactics — said Ms. Natarajan had been removed because of “serious allegations’’ against her.In fact, the Congress cited the allegations against her as the reason why she was not assigned any party work after she was removed from the Ministry. As for the assurance given to her that she was being removed to be used in party work, Mr. Singhvi claimed that was just a courtesy.Other Congress leaders conceded that the steady procession of prominent faces leaving the Congress did not augur well for the party in terms of public perception. “But, then we lost the battle of perception long ago,” one leader said.