Jayanthi Natarajan quits as Union Minister for 'party work'

Jayanthi Natarajan resigned on Saturday as the Minister of State for Environment and Forest for 'party work'. Reports say Natarajan will return to work for the Congress with the 2014 Lok Sabha elections approaching.

Veerappa Moily has been given additional charge of the Environment and Foreign Ministry.

This comes after the Congress witnessed a debacle in the recent assembly elections in four states. Sources say that Jayanthi's resignation is just the beginning and that more union ministers will be seen quitting as a part of organisational restructuring.

Sources say Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has taken charge of the restructuring and that Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh may also be seen quitting and returning to party work.

Even as many blamed Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for the debacle, Natarajan had said it was wrong to blame Rahul.

Related stories

Jayanthi Natarajan

Former union environment minister|GoI

• 
  Green clearances blocked on Rahul's request: Natrajan
• 
  Unaware of what is going on between GMR & NHAI: Natarajan

Do not blame Rahul Gandhi for the Congress reverses in the Assembly polls, Jayanthi Natarajan had suggested, maintaining that it was a "collective failure" and the party will introspect. "Congress is not a one man show. ...It is a collective defeat and collective failure," the Congress leader had said.

"We will introspect on our losses, we will see where we have gone wrong and I am very sure as happened in 1998-99 when we won state elections and lost the Lok Sabha...as happened in 2003 when BJP actually won the Assembly polls and lost the Lok Sabha," she had said.