JAN

31

Jayanthi Natarajan quits Congress 

Most vocal and intelligent leader of Congress, Former union minister Jayanthi Natrajan resigned from the party on Friday, accusing it of not being democratic.

Natarajan held a press conference in Chennai and said that there is no internal democracy in the Congress party now. She also resigned as the trusty member of Tamil Nadu Congress Party.  "I have no plans to join any other political party after such bitter experiences," she says. A letter said to have been written by her to Congress President Sonia Gandhi last November, has been published on Friday by The Hindu newspaper.  She disclosed in her letter that Rahul Gandhi was involved in policy decisions at a micro-level during the UPA-II regime.  Jayanthi Natarajan said that she has become a victim of a false and motivated media campaign against her by some Congress leaders.  Reacting to Natrajan's letter, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said her revelations prove that the government led by Congress was a practitioner of a sadistic economy and guilty of crony capitalism.  Jaitley said Natrajan's letter establishes the government she belonged to ensured that the country's economy suffered and projects held up due to whims and fancies of individual leaders.  Speaking on this issue, Congress Leader PC Chacko said if someone wants to resign due to his/her personal reason she is free to do so.