Jayanthi was not accessible even to Cong MPs from Kerala: Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Friday sought to puncture Jayanthi Natarajan's allegations against Congress leadership, saying the then Environment Minister was "not reachable" even to party MPs.

Chandy said there were instances in which Congress MPs from Kerala had to seek the intervention of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to get access to Natarajan to discuss "buring issues" related to implementation of Kasturirangan and Madhav Gadgil reports on Western Ghats.

"Sometimes, she was not reachable even to party MPs from my state. Obviously, then they complained to the party leadership. They wanted to raise burning issues related to implementation of Kasturirangan and Madhav Gadgil committee reports on Western Ghats.

"My state was witnessing an unprecedented agitation at that point of time. We are grateful to Soniaji and Rahulji for their intervention to address the concerns of the people of my state. They were forced to intervene after our MPs complained that the Minister was not accessable to them," Chandy told PTI here.

He also said Natarajan's accusations against Rahul Gandhi were "unfair."

The Chief Minister was reacting after Natarajan accused Rahul of interference in working of the Environment Ministry during her stint.

A long-time Congress loyalist, Natarajan claimed that she followed the Congress Vice President's directions on green nod to projects but was "vilified, humiliated and sidelined" by central leadership.