FILE photo: Senior Congress leader and former Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan
Hitting back at
Narendra Modi, former Union minister Jayanthi Natarajan today said she was targeted since, as the environment minister, she had stoutly opposed the destruction of environment in BJP-ruled Gujarat.
"It is a targeted personal attack. I totally deny what he says. It is completely baseless. There are major green violations in Gujarat. He was destroying the environment. I was opposed to his destruction of environment," Ms Natarajan told PTI.
Mr Modi had earlier today made a veiled reference to the removal of Ms Natarjan from the Environment Ministry, saying he had heard of "Jayanthi tax" for the first time, apparently referring to allegations during her tenure.
"There was a storm over the Environment Ministry and all files were blocked. No file was moving without money. We had heard of income, sales and excise taxes but for the first time, we heard about a Jayanthi tax in Delhi without which nothing was moving."
"Till the time that was not paid, files could not be moved in the Environment Ministry. I have never experienced it myself as I never need it but we are shocked over this. What kind of systems have they developed," the BJP prime ministerial candidate said during a rally in Panaji.
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Ms Natarajan said that the chief minister was trying to intimidate her but won't succeed.
"He is only trying to intimidate me into silence and stop attacking him. But I cannot be and will not be intimidated," she said, in an apparent reference to criticism by Mr Modi on various political issues.
Petroleum minister Veerappa Moily took over the green ministry around three weeks back after Ms Natarajan was removed.
She had earlier dismissed reports that her removal was because she held up clearances to projects and insisted that she resigned on her own.
Her "resignation" had triggered speculation whether her exit was related to party work or due to reported complaints from industry that her ministry was holding up environmental clearances to projects.