Green clearances blocked on Rahul's request: Natrajan

Moneycontrol Bureau

Former Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, who announced her resignation from primary membership of Congress party on Friday, launched a scathing attack on Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for blocking environmental clearances to large projects when she was the minister. She addressed a press conference in Chennai to absolve herself of charges related to rejection of environmental clearances. In a strong letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, which has become public now, Natarajan alleged that Rahul Gandhi had sent her "specific requests" on environmental clearances as well as rejection of big-ticket projects. In her letter to Mrs. Gandhi which is accessed by The Hindu, Natarajan says, "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’.”

Speaking to the media, Natarajan said she acted the way she did on Mr Gandhi's behest that led her to face the anger and wrath of her Cabinet colleagues many times.

Terming Jayanthi Natarajan's charge of specific requests on green clearances as a ‘serious issue’, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday said he would review the files where allegations of extraneous influence have been mentioned.