At the centre of a brewing political storm after her candidature to the Rajya Sabha was rejected on Tuesday, Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan is a known Rahul Gandhi associate who is both praised for her simplicity by her colleagues and is a divisive figure in party circles.Born in the village of Nagda in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam district, the 52-year-old first made a mark in the Congress by serving as the president of its student wing National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) from 1999 to 2002 and the state Young Congress president for the following three years. Her rise through the party ranks continued as Rahul Gandhi brought her into his core team of young leaders in 2008 after being appointed All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary the year before. That marked Gandhi’s first foray into Congress politics and he was given charge of revitalising the Youth Congress and the NSUI. The others who were part of that group include Krishna Allavaru, Sachin Rao, and Praveen Chakravarty, all holding high offices in the Congress at present. Chakravarty is set to enter the Rajya Sabha this time after winning the seat in Tamil Nadu uncontested.Natarajan was appointed an AICC secretary in 2008 and the following year, Gandhi handpicked her to contest the Lok Sabha election from Mandsaur. Natarajan didn’t disappoint and defeated BJP veteran Laxminarayan Pandey, who had won the seat a total of eight times and had been the incumbent since 1989, by 30,819 votes.Read | Congress tries moving MLAs to Karnataka – in vain – as Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha nomination is rejectedShe proved to be an active parliamentarian, asking a total of 135 questions during her tenure on topics ranging from assistance to widows of CRPF personnel, welfare of families of war veterans, urban development, Hajj facilities, and Railways.Five years later, the story was different as a Narendra Modi wave swept away the Congress across the country, including the Hindi heartland. Natarajan lost by a massive 3.03 lakh votes to the BJP’s Sudhir Gupta. She attempted to win back Mandsaur again in 2019 but failed, with the margin going up to 3.76 lakh votes.Divisive figureWhile the Congress is full of Natarajan’s admirers, including Gandhi, many in the old guard don’t hold such leaders in high regard, dubbing them the “Jai Jagat gang” and criticising their “NGO-style working”.“One incident that really baffled me was around a decade ago when, during a meeting with Rahul Gandhi, she pretended like she was holding a can of soft drink for the first time. Whether she was acting or not, I don’t know. But it seemed pretentious. Rahul Gandhi took it from her, opened it, and handed it back,” said a senior Congress leader in Madhya Pradesh.Story continues below this adAfter Natarajan was appointed the AICC’s Telangana in-charge in February 2025, she rubbed many powerful people in the state unit the wrong way, including Chief Minister Revanth Reddy who is learnt to have told the party leadership that her brand of “simplistic” politics might work in north India but would hurt the party’s image in the state. A month after she took charge, Natarajan drew the ire of many in the party by backing students, teachers, and the civil society protesting against the Reddy government over a proposal to clear 400 acres of land allotted to the University of Hyderabad.However, Natarajan’s supporters disagree and praise her loyalty to the party and Gandhi. “Those who can’t swallow their success ridicule them, saying they work like NGO people. But if in today’s time, when the party is at its low point, if they are standing by the party, it should not only be appreciated but also rewarded. She is among the most honest leaders in the Congress and no one can deny that — not even those who disagree with her style of functioning,” said a Congress leader.Natarajan holds an MSC degree in biochemistry from Government Holkar Science College in Indore and a law degree from the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Arts and Commerce College in the city.Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More Tags:Meenakshi NatarajanRahul Gandhi