NEW DELHI: Angered by Jayanthi Natarajan ’s public condemnation of its leadership, Congress on Friday alleged she was sacked as environment minister on corruption charges, while attributing her outburst against Rahul Gandhi to blackmail by BJP-linked corporate houses that may have incriminating evidence against her.Slamming Natarajan for saying she did not know the reason why she was removed from the UPA-2 ministry since it was on Rahul’s directives that she had red-flagged big-ticket projects, AICC spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, “She is the only one who does not know the reasons for her removal. There were serious charges, not legally provable, of misdemeanour against her. It was a considered decision to drop her from the ministry… taken by party chief Sonia Gandhi and then PM Manmohan Singh.”A senior ministerial colleague of Natarajan, Anand Sharma, said industrialists at a CII meet in Mumbai in August 2013 had questioned her functioning, saying “files were sent to Chennai for clearance” with the direction that they be taken to a particular official -- alluding to malpractices.Congress said the timing and content of Natarajan’s letter indicated that she was under pressure to write against Rahul from corporate houses linked to BJP who had coined the “Jayanthi tax” jibe and could be having evidence of her culpability in corruption.Sources claimed that Natarajan quit because she had come under pressure from a “BJP-linked” corporate house. They said she wanted to hold a press conference to rebut the perception of wrongdoing as environment minister, and sought the leadership’s permission a month ago. While the leadership sought to cajole her into giving up the plan, she was determined to part ways and laid the ground by “leaking” her letter to Sonia, said a source. He said disclosure of the letter was to deliver the leadership a fait accompli which came formally at a press conference in the afternoon.Crucially, Congress said the Modi government could use Natarajan’s letter about extraneous pressures as an excuse to review and assent projects that were “rightly denied” to corporate houses close to BJP.As the letter-bomb sent the political street into an overdrive of allegations and retaliations on Friday, Congress said Natarajan’s charge that Rahul had sought attention on “tribal welfare and environmental degradation” in deciding the fate of projects was hardly uncharitable as it was a known Congress and UPA policy. “Rahul went to Niyamgiri (after the project was stalled) and told tribals that they had a votary and supporter in Delhi,” Singhvi said.The spokesman wondered why was Natarajan complaining against Rahul for acting in conformity with the UPA programme, adding, “I hope she did not expect Congress to act on BJP’s corporate interests.”Anand Sharma said if Natarajan was offended that her reputation was sullied by corruption charges, she should not complain against Sonia and Rahul but should aim at the prime minister. "She should file a defamation case against Modi who repeatedly used the 'Jayanthi tax' barb during the Lok Sabha election campaign," he said.