Date: August 20, 1998.
Occasion: Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary.
Event: NSUI’s Girl Students Convention in Delhi.
Chief Guest: Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Then NSUI President Alka Lamba reached the venue late. An NSUI secretary welcomed Sonia Gandhi and escorted her to the stage. Sonia Gandhi was very impressed after her interaction with this student leader. Within a year, in 1999, that student leader, Meenakshi Natarajan, was appointed as the National President of Congress’ students wing, the NSUI.
Originally Tamil, Meenakshi Natarajan’s family had settled in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam nearly a hundred years ago. Her father worked in a chemical factory and mother was a teacher. During her days at Indore University, she joined the NSUI. Known for her simplicity and oratory, Meenakshi Natarajan quickly caught the attention of the Congress leadership.
After serving as NSUI national president for three years, Meenakshi Natarajan was made Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress State President in 2002 and a Congress National Secretary in 2008.
Around the same time, Rahul Gandhi was appointed Congress General Secretary and took charge of NSUI and Youth Congress. Working under Rahul Gandhi, Meenakshi Natarajan served as co-incharge of NSUI first, and then of the Youth Congress.
Meenakshi Natarajan came to be seen as a key face of Rahul Gandhi’s team.
Read | Sabotage? Inside Story Of How BJP Got Papers Against Meenakshi Natarajan
In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, she defeated BJP heavyweight Laxmi Narayan Pandey from Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, who had held the seat for 20 years.
A story about this election is part of the Congress lore. After winning the election, Meenakshi Natarajan went to the then Congress Treasurer, Motilal Vora, with a large portion of the unspent funds she had received from the party for election expenses and returned the amount to the party. Vora conveyed this to the Congress leadership, and Natarajan’s Gandhian
She, however, could not win from Mandsaur in the 2014 and 2019 elections and did not contest in 2024.
She continued to work behind the scenes, returning to the mainstream in 2022 when she was made a member of the Congress Working Committee. In February last year, the party appointed her in-charge of Telangana. But despite these positions, Meenakshi Natarajan maintained a low profile.
She rarely speaks in public but her firm stand on several issues has made the Telangana Congress government uncomfortable.
The party fielded her from Madhya Pradesh in this year’s Rajya Sabha elections. But her nomination was rejected over alleged non-disclosure of a case against her in Telangana.
Read | The Curious ‘Case’ Of Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha Papers Rejection
Talking about the said case, a close aide of Meenakshi Natarajan told NDTV that during the Telangana Assembly elections, Meenakshi Natarajan was an observer. A woman lodged a complaint with her against a leader who was a strong contender for the Congress ticket from the Narayanpet Assembly seat. Keeping in mind the sensitivity of the matter, Natarajan requested the party to deny the leader a ticket. Later, the ticket went to a woman from the same leader’s family, who won the election.
Later in 2025, after Meenakshi Natarajan was made in-charge of the state, sources said, the complainant woman began pressuring her for action in the old case. According to sources, Meenakshi Natarajan advised her to seek legal help and file a complaint with the party’s disciplinary committee. But the woman went to court, and a notice related to this case was sent to Meenakshi Natarajan. She replied to it but did not think it was necessary to mention this legal matter in her affidavit. Her nomination was rejected after BJP raised the case with the Election commission.
So, was Meenakshi Natarajan careless? A close aide of the 53-year-old leader told NDTV, “she has contested three elections and has managed several others. Would she not know the importance of an affidavit”?
Is this a setback for Meenakshi Natarajan?
Her associates say she has always maintained that she prefers being in the ‘jansabha‘ (public assembly) rather than the Rajya Sabha. The aide said that even on Tuesday morning, Meenakshi Natarajan inquired about the health of the woman whose complaint has derailed her Rajya Sabha bid.
After the political turmoil due to the rejection of her nomination, Meenakshi Natarajan was urgently summoned to Delhi by the party to work on the next move. She took a night train instead of a flight as she prefers train over air travel to save cost.
Leaders close to her say that she still manages her expenses with the pension she receives as a former MP and earnings from a few books she has authored.
For reasons like these, she remains an enigma for many in the Congress. For her close aides she is one of the rare leaders in today’s politics who still stick to their principles.
