Jayanthi Natarajan on the decline of Congress

Former Union Minister Jayanthi Natarajan at The Hindu Lit for Life in Chennai on January 19, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
R. Ragu

Former Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, who quit Congress in 2015, listed out why the grand old party was not able to win elections in the recent times.

Ms. Natarajan has not been active in politics ever since she quit the party claiming that she had become a victim of a “vicious, false and motivated” media campaign by certain individuals.

At The Hindu Lit for Life 2025, Ms. Natarajan was a panellist on the topic ‘The Election That Surprised India’.

She said she always believed the Congress was centerist space and thus she chose to be part of it. She also noted that as many as 16 Congress chief ministers have quit the party. She accused the party of not being democratic, not giving reservation to women and representation to women in the party’s organisation structure. “Where is the credility,” she wondered.