New Delhi: Amidst allegations by Jayanthi Natarajan that she was defamed within the Congress and asked to quit the Environment Ministry, details by Central Bureau of Investigation point to other reasons which could have led to her resignation.
According to sources, during Jayanthi Natrajan's period as the environment minister, three-four Preliminary Enquiries were registered for clearance to iron ore and mining companies. The allegations levelled are of violating basic norms and rules issuing clearances in a hurry.
However, the investigation as yet is not pointed towards her, but sources say that she could also be asked to be a part of the investigation.
One of the cases pertains to Jindal Power and Steel where the allegation against Natarajan is that she forced officials to change their stand when they objected to the use of forest land for a project.
In a letter to Sonia Gandhi, Jayanthi mentioned that she felt marginalized and humiliated after being removed from the post of environment minister and then as Congress spokesperson a month later. She also stated that despite repeated requests, she was not given a reason for her removal from the post.
She even went on to question party Vice President Rahul Gandhi's leadership and alleged that she received "specific requests" from him on environmental clearances.
Jayanthi is believed to have been responsible for holding up nearly as 35 mega projects, each involving an investment exceeding Rs 1,000 crore each, these figures reveal. The total investment in these projects is far beyond Rs 35,000 crore as some of them of these were valued above Rs 5,000 crore.
The nuclear power project of 2,800 mw, which got the government's in-principle approval in October 2009, got environment clearance only on December 27, 2013 - six days after Natarajan's exit. The clearance had been pending for long, stretching back to her predecessor Jairam Ramesh's tenure. In the meantime, the project cost was revised from Rs 14,500 crore to Rs 23,502 crore.
The others which got environmental clearance under her successor Veerappa Moily included two coal mining projects - one of Central Coalfields Limited in Jharkhand and the other of Western Coalfields Limited in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh.
A long-pending key infrastructure project of Kerala - Vizhinjam International Container Transshipment Terminal at Trivandrum - also got environmental clearance under Moily.
Soon after Jayanthi's letter, Congress came out in defence of Rahul and termed the allegations by her as baseless. "Rahul Gandhi had been fighting for the rights for the weaker sections in public. He has spoken publicly on the issue and if Natrajan or anyone else claims he was responsible for stopping the Vedanta mines clearance I don't think there is substance in it. Rahul always was concerned about environment. In that regard, if he spoke to minister or anyone it's not a big deal," Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said.
"This is a baseless allegation. If someone wants to resign, they are free do to so. Making wild allegations is unacceptable," Congress leader PC Chaco said.
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