Jayanthi Natrajan's letter to Sonia Gandhi an 'image saving mission', says Congress

New Delhi: The Congress party on Friday was persistent in its efforts to discredit former union minister Jayanthi Natarajan, who quit the party with a direct attack on Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

Slamming Natrajan, a miffed Congress termed her press conference and letter to party President Sonia Gandhi as an 'image bachao abhiyaan'.

"Not has she once orally or in writing articulated these thoughts. They are hypocritical and opportunistic," said Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

"Saddening that someone who got four terms in government chose to release a diatribe which is factually untrue,” he added.

Read: Was forced to attack Modi on 'snoopgate' issue: Jayanthi Natarajan

Defending Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Singhvi said, "Congress policy regarding tribal welfare is well known, Rahul Gandhi visited Niyamgiri way before Jayanthi Natarajan was environment minister."

Sanghvi also stated that if Natarajan had a problem she should have given up her position when she was in charge.

He also questioned the timing of her letter, considering that the Delhi polls are just around the corner.

Read: Congress leaders rally behind Rahul Gandhi after attack from former Union Minister

Rejecting the attack on Rahul Gandhi as being "malicious" and driven by "ulterior motives", party spokesman Anand Sharma raked up corruption allegations against her.

Questioning her delayed resignation from Congress and the claims that Gandhi's office was engaged in a vilification campaign against her after she had stepped down as a Union minister in 2013, Sharma dared her to file a defamation case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it was he who used to target her with the "Jayanthi tax" barb.

"If Jayanthi is offended that her reputation has been sullied, she should not complain about Sonia (Gandhi) and Rahul. They have not done it.”

"She should file a defamation case against Modi, who repeatedly used the 'Jayanthi tax' barb during the Lok Sabha poll campaign," said Sharma.

Read: Tamil Nadu Congress chief ‘thanks’ Jayanthi Natarajan for quitting

Further targeting Natarajan, he said that questions about her functioning as a minister were raised from time to time by industrialists, including at a CII roundtable meet in Mumbai in August, 2013.

"In Mumbai, they (industrialists) 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 I'm asked to go to a specific OSD."

Sharma claimed that hundreds of files had to be collected from Chennai after she had resigned. The former commerce minister also said that if need be, the industrialists who had attended the Mumbai meet may be asked to say publicly now what they had claimed during the CII event.

Read: Jayanthi Natarajan was not accessible even to Congress MPs from Kerala: Oommen Chandy

To a specific question on whether he was saying that there were corruption allegations against her, Sharma said, "Well, that is what they (industrialists) complained about. There was a perception... that question has to be answered by Jayanthi or Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who frequently attacked her with the 'Jayanthi tax' barb."

Earlier in the day, Natarajan, in a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, stated she was quitting the party, citing 'political interference' and alleging that she received 'specific requests' from Rahul Gandhi on environmental clearances.

Natrajan later told the media that the Congress was no longer the party that she had joined thirty years ago.

She further alleged that she had resigned as the environment minister on the orders of party president Sonia Gandhi, but later media speculations made her feel vilified.