Headlines
No leadership crisis in Congress: Anand Sharma
New Delhi, Jan 30
Unfazed with former union
minister Jayanthi Natrajan's exit, Congress leader Anand Sharma Friday
dispelled concerns of leadership deficit within his party.
"There
is no leadership crisis within the party...the party is much bigger
and and it will not evaporate with the exit of small leaders like
Natrajan," Sharma told IANS.
Firm on his stand that former
environment minister Natrajan "put herself in a corner", Sharma, her
ministerial colleague in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA II government,
maintained that there was no need to make "martyrs out of zeroes".
Second
in a row to exit, Natrajan Friday dealt a sharp blow to the Congress as
she quit saying she was shunted despite her diligence in toeing the
"party line" and acting on "specific inputs" from Congress vice
president Rahul Gandhi's office during her tenure as minister.
Following a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Natrajan snapped ties from a party she served for over 30 years.
"Received
several requests and representations from Rahul Gandhi's office to
ensure that the environment is protected," said Natarajan who was asked
to put in her papers Dec 20, 2013 by Manmohan Singh.
"And according to these instructions...I did my duty. I had these projects investigated and some of them I stopped," she said.
Sharma
however contended that Natrajan was defamed by her own actions and by
the Bharatiya Janata Party and asked her to file a defamation case
against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who then as the Gujarat chief
minister, initiated the term "Jayanthi Tax".
The term "Jayanthi
tax" was popularised following Natarajan's brief spell as environment
minister in 2013, when she was seen as a roadblock to several
development projects
Earlier this month, former union minister
Krishna Tirath left Congress to join the Bhartiya Janata Party ahead of
the Delhi assembly polls.
Taking little notice of the incident,
Sharma said "every party has opportunists" and so was Tirath who
"enjoyed the fruits of power and when the party was down and under",
defected.
On being questioned about Congress general secretary
Janardan Diwedi who reportedly praised Modi, setting off a controversy
only laid to rest when he said he was "quoted out of context", Sharma
said he was very much with the party.
Putting Natrajan in the
dock, Sharma said she had to answer about over 100 official files that
were retrieved from her office in Chennai after she had resigned as
environment minister.
He contended those files should have been
at the ministry office in New Delhi instead, projecting that as the
reason for delaying several projects that she held Gandhi responsible
for.