Congress leader Anand Sharma on Friday said business leaders were disgruntled with Jayanti Natarajan during her stint as environment minister, as she was running the ministry from Chennai instead of the national capital.
Sharma added that hundreds of files had to be retrieved from Chennai after Natarajan's resignation.
"There was a CII convened industry round table in Mumbai in which the top captains of the Indian industry were present. They did complain to me bitterly and those complaints were not about the delays, they said that the files were required to be cleared out of Chennai," Sharma said.
"Why a cabinet minister or a minister should take the files out of national capital and call the people, the concerned individuals whose projects were delayed, to come to Chennai. Whether that's a fact or not, her office record must reveal. How many hundreds of files, even after she was asked to resign were recovered and had to be retrieved from Chennai," he added.
Sharma further said that Natarajan's letter alleging Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi of interfering in environmental matters during UPA regime is 'very unfortunate' and in poor taste'.
"What she has said is very unfortunate and in very poor taste. She has tried to do a late damage control and dragged in Congress vice president's office.," Sharma said.
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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 30 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.