Rahul Gandhi’s office had requested Jayanthi Natarajan’s ministry to look into Adani Port and SEZ

NEW DELHI: Industrialist Gautam Adani had become a campaign theme for Rahul Gandhi in Elections 2014, with the Congress vicepresident sharply attacking Narendra Modi’s alleged special treatment of the Gujaratbased Adani Group.
But Adani and his group seem to have been in Rahul’s crosshairs for much longer. Documents accessed by ETshow that almost two years before his April 2014 campaign attacks, Gandhi’s political office had requested the then environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan to initiate action against the Adani Group — and Natarajan’s ministry appears to have taken the course suggested.

Over the July-September 2012 period, Gandhi’s office had forwarded requests by a Gujarat Congress leader that an inquiry committee headed by noted environmental expert Sunita Narain be set up to investigate the Adani Group. The environment ministry did set up a committee led by Narain.

The committee had recommended in September 2013 . around the time Elections 2014 campaign was beginning to pick up momentum . that the Adani group pay a å200-crore fine.

As the election campaign entered the final stretch in April this year, Rahul Gandhi started making strong attacks against the Adani group.

ET has accessed an extensive email exchange between Kanishka Singh, Rahul Gandhifs chief aide, the then environment minister, Jayanthi Natarajan and an All India Congress Committee secretary from Gujarat, Dipak Babaria.

Gandhi and Singh did not respond to ETfs emailed questionnaire. Natarajan told ET she would not like to comment on the matter except to say gthere was no political interferenceh on the part of Gandhi in her ministryfs actions against Adani.

Three senior Congress leaders ET spoke to declined to comment on the issue and did not want to be identified. Babaria also declined to respond to ETfs questionnaire. He said over the phone “there was no interference from Rahulji” and that he (Babaria) “was representing farmers’ interests”. Gautam Adani also refused to comment on the matter.

The mail exchange had started with Dipak Babaria’s July 4, 2012 request to Rahul Gandhi reminding the Congress vice-president of a meeting that he had with farmers who were opposing the Adani-operated Mundra Port.

Babaria had written that the Adani group was “violating all environmental obligations and submitting fake documents”. His request to Rahul Gandhi was that the environment ministry appoint a committee under the chairmanship of a “renowned environmentalist” like Sunita Narain and investigate complaints against the group.

A few days later, on July 9, 2012, Babaria had forwarded the same email to Kanishka Singh, requesting him to get the matter “expedited”. On the same day, Singh wrote to Natarajan.

The email text reads: “Dear Madam, RG has asked me to pass the request below on to you for your attention and follow up. Many thanks indeed”.

On August 17, 2012, just over a month after Singh’s first mail to Natarajan, Rahul Gandhi’s chief aide again wrote to the then environment minister.

The email’s text reads: “Dear Madam, may I request that Secretary AICC Shri Dipak Babaria ji call on you with regard to the issue below which you had had examined and sent us a note on. He is cc-ed on this email. Many thanks indeed in advance”.

One day later, on August 18, 2012, Natarajan wrote back, saying: “Dear Kanishk, I will certainly meet with Dipak Bbaria next week, and do the needful”.

The minister, in the same mail, invited Babaria to see her in her office on August 22. “We could discuss, and decide on how I may help you”, the minister told the Congress functionary.

The environment ministry’s action came in September 2012.

On the 6th of that month Babaria had written to Natarajan. “I attach herewith a draft TOR (terms of reference) suggested for the committee to be appointed for finding Mudra Port/SEZ and other power plants/Industrial Units’ environmental clearances/violations and compliance status”.