Jayanthi Natarajan quits, Congress organisational rejig likely

Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan has resigned and is likely to be given party responsibilities ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Sources say more ministers will follow suit and an organisational rejig of the Congress is on the cards.

An official statement from the Rashtrapati Bhavan Saturday said President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the resignation.

"I expressed my desire to work for the party in view of the Lok Sabha elections, at what level is for the high command to decide," Natarajan said Saturday.

Sources in the Congress say that more ministers may resign soon in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, as party vice president Rahul Gandhi is to rejig responsibilities.

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot and Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia are some others likely to go Natarajan's way, according to party sources.

The rejig was in the pipeline since the rout faced by the party in the recent assembly polls.

Rahul had said after the results they would take lessons from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which made a spectacular debut in Delhi with 28 seats in the 70-seat assembly.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M. Veerappa Moily has been given additional charge of the environment and forests ministry.