CMYK

ND-ND

DELHI, FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015

Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad and Malappuram

• •

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 5 ● No. 25 ● CITY EDITION ● 20 Pages ● Rs. 8.00 ● www.thehindu.in

INSIDE �

HEAT WAVES UPIN URBAN AREAS

CHENNAI: In a major disclo-sure, former Union Envi-ronment Minister JayanthiNatarajan said she received“specific requests” fromCongress vice-president Ra-hul Gandhi on environmen-tal clearances and sheconsequently rejected big-ticket projects despite pres-sure from Cabinet col-leagues seeking approval.

In a strong letter to Con-gress president Sonia Gand-hi in November, exclusivelyavailable with The Hindu,Ms. Natarajan said she hadbecome a victim of a “vi-cious, false and motivated”media campaign by partic-ular, chosen individuals inthe party after Mr. Gandhishifted from his pro-envi-ronmental position to a cor-porate-friendly one at theheight of electioneering forthe Lok Sabha.

A day after she resigned,Mr. Gandhi’s office “plantedstories” in the media thather resignation “was not forparty work,” she said.

The letter also indicatedthat Mr. Gandhi was in-volved in policy decisions ata micro level during the UPAII under Dr. ManmohanSingh, something that theCongress has consistentlydenied.

“I received specific re-quests [which used to be di-rectives for us] from ShriRahul Gandhi and his officeforwarding environmentalconcerns in some importantareas and I took care to hon-our those requests,” the let-ter says.

Vedanta vs tribals

Mr. Gandhi’s views on Ve-danta’s proposal to minebauxite in the Niyamgirihills in Odisha were con-veyed to her by his office andshe took “great care to en-sure that the interests of thetribals were protected andrejected environmental

clearance to Vedanta” de-spite “tremendous pres-sure” from her colleagues inthe Cabinet and huge crit-icism from the industry.

In the case of projects ofthe Adani group, Ms. Nat-arajan said she was asked by

Mr. Gandhi’s office to “li-aise” with Gujarat Congress-man Deepak Babaria oncomplaints of NGOs and lo-cal fisherfolk aboutviolations.

“In fact, you [Sonia Gand-hi] have yourself conveyedyour concern in this regard

in letters written to me inseveral cases, including thestalled GVK power projectregarding Dhari Devi templein Himachal Pradesh, theLavasa project in Maharash-tra, Nirma cement plant inGujarat and in several othercases I was given specific in-put to make my decision,”the letter said.

While her resignation inDecember 2013, a mere 100days before the parliamen-tary elections, sparked a ma-jor controversy, theCongress had said then thatshe was being drafted backinto the organisation forparty work.

However, Ms. Natarajanstates in the letter that she isstill unaware of the real rea-sons for her “removal.”

Ms. Natarajan’s letter saidthat despite having an un-blemished reputation of 30years in public life, her ownwork and the glorious legacyof her family stood ruined bythe developments. Ms.Gandhi is yet to reply to theletter and Ms. Natarajan’srepeated attempts to meetthe Congress leadership anddefend herself had failed.

G.Ananthakrishnan &Sruthisagar Yamunan

GREEN CLEARANCES Rejected projects at Congress’ bidding: Jayanthi Natarajan

EXCLUSIVE

NEW DELHI: Less than twelvehours after the govern-ment’s official notificationappointing him the newForeign Secretary, S.Jaishankar, took charge onThursday morning.

Dr. Jaishankar, who wasin Delhi after U.S. Presi-dent Barack Obama’s visitwhen he was informed ofthe decision, refused to an-swer questions aboutwhether the order on re-placing Ms. Sujatha Singhwas a surprise. “I don’tthink this is the time to getinto those kinds of ques-tions,” he told journalistsshortly after assuming of-fice, adding “the govern-ment’s priorities are mypriorities.”

Shockwaves

The government’s deci-sion to appoint him, after“curtailing” Ms. Singh’stenure by seven months,however did send shock-waves in the administra-tive services, given that itis relatively rare that offi-cers at the highest levelhave their tenure “cutshort” in this manner.

Jaishankar takes charge“Government’spriorities are my priorities” Suhasini Haidar

Sushma Swaraj greets S. Jaishankar in New Delhion Thursday. — PHOTO: PTI

NEW DELHI: Sujatha Singhsaid on Thursday that herperformance as ForeignSecretary should be judgedby the eight months of hec-tic foreign policy activityunder the Narendra Modigovernment, which shetermed a “success.”

“It hurts when it be-comes a question of indi-viduals — of thispersonality versus the oth-er personality...,” she toldThe Hindu.

Accepting that it was thePrime Minister’s prerog-ative to choose his ForeignSecretary, Ms. Singh, how-ever, challenged anybodyto show that any part ofIndia’s strategic engage-

ment had not got its duebecause she was ForeignSecretary.

(Full text of the inter-view at http://thne.ws/SujathaSingh)

Go by my record: Sujatha Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI: The Congress onThursday criticised thedecision to replace Ms. Singh,calling on the government toexplain the action. “Thesudden and summary removalof the senior-most womanforeign service official raisesserious questions on itsintent,” said spokespersonRandeep Surjewala.

Congress seeksexplanation

� EDITED EXCERPTS OF LETTER; 'FILEON ADANI GROUP FOUND IN WASHROOM'|PAGE 11

� GOVT ACTION ‘TECHNICALLYCORRECT’; A LEVEL-HEADED DIPLOMATWHO WORKS LIKE A DOCTOR | PAGE 10

PAGE 11

A VIRTUALSEMIFINAL PAGE 16

IS ISSUES NEWDEATH THREATPAGE 12

GORKHA LEADERGHISINGH DEAD PAGE 10

FRIDAY REVIEW— 4 Pages

� 'NOT INTERESTED IN ANY NEWASSIGNMENT' | PAGE 10

“I honoured Rahul's requests”

NEW DELHI: In a sign of the im-portance of the battle for Del-hi, a battery of Unionministers descended on theBJP office on Thursday andtook over the reins of the pollsdisplacing local leadership. Asmany as 10 Union ministersalso attended a review meet-ing chaired by party presidentAmit Shah as part of the coregroup for election prepared-ness, which decided not to re-lease an election manifesto.

The senior BJP leaders in-cluded Chemical and Fertiliz-ers minister Ananth Kumar,Health minister J.P. Nadda,Agriculture minister RadhaMohan Singh, Social Justiceand Empowerment ministerThaawar Chand Geh-lot, Minority Affairsminister MukhtarAbbas Naqvi andDharmendra Prad-han who holds inde-pendent charge ofPetroleum and Natu-ral Gas apart fromDelhi BJP chief Sat-ish Upadhyay, Pradesh in-charge Prabhat Jha and DelhiMPs Maheish Girri and Ra-mesh Bidhuri attended themeeting.

Later in the day, Union min-isters Rajiv Pratap Rudy andNirmala Sitharaman ad-dressed a press conferenceand targeted AAP chief ArvindKejriwal with five questions.Leaders from Delhi includingMr. Jha and Mr. Upadhyaywere missing from the dais

and arrived after party seniorsdodged questions on the needto unleash the Prime Minis-ter’s Cabinet for the polls.

“Fortunately for the BJP,we have an array of MPs,Union ministers and MLAs

who will participate inthe poll process andwho are primarily par-ty workers. If they[other political par-ties] don’t have allthis, we cannot be heldanswerable,” said Mr.Rudy. Union Financeminister Arun Jaitely

was also present in the DelhiBJP’s headquarters to overseepreparedness. While the arrayof leaders will address around250 meetings to woo voters,Union ministers like SmirtiIrani, Sushma Swaraj andUma Bharti are into day two ofaddressing rallies.

BJP gears up tocounter AAPSowmiya Ashok

Amit Shah

� SHAH HOLDS STRATEGY MEETING |PAGE 11

NEW DELHI: A day after UnionTelecommunications Minis-ter Ravi Shankar Prasad in-dicated that the Governmentwanted a debate on whetherthe words “socialist, secular”should be in the Preamble tothe Constitution, anotherUnion Minister M. Venkaiah

Naidu said there was no planto remove them.

According to a PTI reportfrom Chennai, Mr. Naidusaid the Government was“committed to secularismand there is no thinking toremove” it from the Pream-ble. Speaking to reporters,Mr Naidu added that “secu-larism is in the blood of Indi-

ans and it’s a part of ourculture.”

Meanwhile, the RSS haschosen to steer clear of thedebate triggered by the In-formation & BroadcastingMinistry using a watermarkof the original Preamble –which did not have the words“socialist, secular”– in twoRepublic Day print advertise-

ments. “We don’t think thisdeserves any comment fromthe RSS; we don’t think thosewho are debating this issuehave any depth or right in-tentions; so it’s better that wedon’t speak at this time,” saida senior RSS functionary.

Preamble row: differences surface, RSS silentNational Bureau

� FATALLY WRONG TO REMOVE'SECULARISM' | PAGE 10

its 239 passengers and crew, asmany desperate next-of-kincontinue to insist it may havelanded safely somewhere.

But Thursday’s declarationthat MH370 was an “accident”was essentially a formal an-nouncement that the plane hadindeed crashed somewhere.

- AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia onThursday formally declared thepassengers and crew of missingflight MH370 to be presumeddead, a step that it said opens thedoor for compensation pay-ments but which was angrily re-jected by distraught relatives.

Malaysian authorities and theairline had until now refrainedfrom drawing firm conclusionsabout the fate of the plane and

MH370 passengers ‘presumed dead’

� MALAYSIAN GOVT'S FORMALANNOUNCEMENT | PAGE 12

CIL STAKE SALE

Floor price fixed atRs.358 a shareKOLKATA: The Uniongovernment on Thursday fixedRs.358 a share as the floor-pricefor the stake sale in Coal IndiaLtd. The offer opens on Friday.The government has the optionof divestment of up to 10 percent, depending on the responseto the initial offer of five percent. The trade unions havegiven the sale the thumbs-down.

BUSINESS | PAGE 13

BURIED ALIVE

1 labourer dead

NEW DELHI: One labourer diedand three others were injuredwhen a mound of mud caved inat a building site under theNational Buildings ConstructionCorporation project in KidwaiNagar.

CITY| PAGE 5

� SEE ALSO | PAGE 2, 3, 4 & 10