Hours before polling to start for the second phase of the Assembly election in Gujarat, the BJP on Wednesday came up with fresh allegations against the Congress, saying that “non-state actors” were allowed to run the UPA government. Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal released e-mail exchanges purportedly between the then Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi to allege that the latter used his clout to “overrule” the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on policy decisions.
The e-mails show Ms. Natarajan informing Mr. Gandhi about several projects and seeking his and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s guidance.
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‘Rahul Tax’
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Mr. Goyal also said the phrase “Jayanthi Tax” coined by the BJP during election campaigns to flag corruption in her Ministry was actually a “Rahul Tax”.
Reading from these e-mails, Mr. Goyal said Ms. Natarajan wrote to Mr. Gandhi about Dr. Singh’s direction to ensure that her Ministry took a favourable view of field trials of Genetically Modified (GM) crops, something she was opposed to. “These e-mails highlight a very worrisome nexus. How the work of the government was run by non-state players,” Mr. Goyal said.
He cited another mail purportedly from Mr. Gandhi, allegedly asking to ensure no dilution of environmental rules for clearance of a project in Gujarat and claimed it showed how the Congress obstructed development work in the State when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was its Chief Minister.
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The e-mails carried messages exchanged between Ms. Natarajan and Mr. Gandhi’s then private secretary.
Mr. Goyal said that not only the leader even his personal secretary was so powerful that the Minister was seeking his convenience to meet him.