Published Jun 10, 2026 | 4:36 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 10, 2026 | 4:44 PM
Meenakshi Natarajan. Credit: facebook.com/MNatarajan.INC
Synopsis: The Congress leadership has clearly failed to check what is being called an act of mischief/sabotage. That it happened to a woman leader who follows value-oriented politics makes it worse.
The Congress leadership at the national level has pressed all possible levers, including tapping its sources in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to identify the internal culprit who leaked information to the BJP about the pending case against the AICC general secretary Meenakshi Natarajan.
In what came as a massive shock to the Congress, Natarajan’s nomination for election to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh was rejected on June 9 by the Returning Officer (RO) on the ground that she did not furnish information about a case pending against her in Telangana.
According to sources, top AICC leaders are trying to elicit information from the IB and the party’s teams in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana as they seek to get to the bottom of the issue. Special teams have been assigned to this task.
What would have been construed as a technical fault by Natarajan’s team took a political turn when BJP Legislative Affairs Minister from Madhya Pradesh Kailash Vijayvargiya dropped a bombshell by claiming that the information about the case came from Telangana, where the Congress is in power.
Natarajan is the AICC in-charge for Telangana and has not been on great terms with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. Both are said to have differed on the plans for Telangana in the presence of top AICC leaders during review meetings.
Curiously, many stories appeared against Natarajan’s style of functioning in sections of Telugu media considered close to the establishment.
While there is no evidence to suggest any link between the “leak” and the top leadership of Telangana Congress, the common view is that it is the “moral and political responsibility” of those at the helm in the state to ensure that the nomination process goes through smoothly.
Particularly, in the context of the eyeball-to-eyeball fight between the Congress and the BJP in the RS election from Madhya Pradesh, where the saffron party has put up an additional candidate in the hope of luring Congress legislators. Fearing horse-trading, the Congress planned to move its MLAs to Bengaluru before the latest twist.
Also Read: Who sank Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha bid? BJP points to Congress infighting in Telangana
While the legality of the grounds on which the Returning Officer rejected the nomination is a different fight altogether, what has raised hackles was the way the BJP brought up the complaint against Meenakshi at the very last minute after the final date for nominations had closed.
Congress leaders at the national level are looking at all possible sources from where the information would have leaked—the legal team that handled the nomination process, Gandhi Bhavan, the headquarters of Telangana Congress or the bureaucratic system in the State Home Ministry which was most likely aware of the pending complaint against Meenakshi.
Rajya Sabha member and top lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that there was no “case” registered against Meenakshi. All that was on record was a complaint on which the court issued a notice to her, and this was no ground for rejection of nomination.
It’s akin to a bowler choosing not to follow sportsmanship by whipping the bails off if he finds the runner outside the crease (Mankading). The BJP is not known to follow sportsmanship in politics and took full advantage of the “loophole” provided by the Congress, though it’s still likely that the highest court might not agree with the Returning Officer’s decision.
While the BJP adopting such tactics using the institutional mechanisms is a larger debate, the Congress has clearly caught itself in an embarrassing situation with its leadership found wanting in failing to check what is being called an act of mischief/sabotage.
That this happened to a woman leader, and that too one of those few who still follow value-oriented politics, has made it worse.
Rubbing salt into wounds, senior BJP leader BL Santosh put out a tweet on June 10: “The whole INC India brigade and its bagpipers in media shouting from rooftops cannot answer one single question. Who from its ranks brought the Telangana case to the public domain? Better to plug that hole to arrest future embarrassments.”
Also Read: How Meenakshi Natarajan fiasco betrays Congress High Command’s loss of grip over state units
