Jayanti quits; rejig on cards

• Jairam Ramesh, Sachin Pilot, Jitendra Singh, R P N Singh likely to follow; Anand Sharma and Azad also may be considered for party work
• Jayanti may be made TNCC chief; her portfolio given to Moily
• The entire effort will be reinventing Cong that will connect with youth and middle class

New Delhi: Union Environment and Forests Minister Jayanti Natarajan on Saturday resigned from the Union Council of Ministers to take up party work, setting the stage for a possible rejig in the Congress ahead of the General Election in 2014. Accepting her resignation Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “You were a valuable colleague. Thank you for your contributions.”

Her resignation has triggered speculation of more such resignations being in the offing, like those of Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Union Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Sports Jitendra Singh and Minister of State for Home R P N Singh. Rahul Gandhi is keen to induct his team in the AICC that would lead the election campaign. While seniors like Defence Minister A K Antony, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will remain in the Cabinet, experienced hands like Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Union Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma could also be considered for party work.

The entire effort will be on reinventing the Congress that will connect with the youth and the middle-class, with whom the party seems to be completely out of sync. Once the organisational reshuffle is completed, the AICC Session on January 17 would focus on drawing up the election strategy for the parliamentary polls in 2014. Facing a formidable challenge from BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi is making all-out efforts to revive the spirits of a moribund party and to prepare it for the upcoming electoral battle.

Rattled by the party’s 4-0 rout in the just-concluded round of Assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi had signalled that the party will undertake introspection and corrective action, ahead of the parliamentary elections. He is keen on injecting young blood by drawing youthful leaders for party work. Jitendra Singh, who is considered to be close to Rahul Gandhi, could be considered for being made AICC general secretary.

Sachin Pilot could be made Rajasthan PCC president, after the complete rout of the party in the Rajasthan Assembly elections. Former Indian Youth Congress President Ashok Tanwar is tipped to be made the Haryana PCC president. Recently, in other states like Delhi and Chhattisgarh the PCC presidents were replaced, where the party suffered a stunning electoral debacle. While Arvinder Singh Lovely, a Sikh, replaced J P Agarwal as the Delhi PCC president, Bhupesh Baghel replaced Charan Das Mahant as Chhattisgarh PCC president.

Jayanti Natarajan, too, can be considered for being inducted as Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president, in a bid to revive the party in the state, where it has been in a shambles, after both the Dravidian parties have distanced themselves from the Congress, isolating it in the State.

The Congress will have to plough a lonely furrow in the polls in Tamil Nadu, as there is a possibility of only a post-poll tie-up. Incidentally, Jayanti is the grand-daughter of M Bhaktavatsalam, who was the last Tamil Nadu Chief Minister from the Congress, which lost power in 1967. Alternatively, Jayanti, who is articulate and can skillfully put across the party viewpoint, could be used in the work relating to Congress Election Manifesto and other election-related work.

Soon after her resignation, Jayanti Natarajan said she had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, expressing her desire to resign from the Cabinet and work for the Congress, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

At what level she would work in the party will be decided by the Congress High Command. Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily has been given additional charge of Environment & Forests Ministry, in the wake of her resignation.