Veerappa Moily’s sensational claim lacks heft
Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas Veerappa Moily has made the sensational disclosure that he has been threatened by oil import lobbies because he is trying to boost domestic production of petroleum products in a bid to reduce the country's dependence on imports. It's a serious allegation that deserves an investigation, but only if Mr Moily is prepared to come clean and reveal details. Who are these import lobbies that have ‘threatened' himIJ What have the lobbies ‘threatened' to doIJ When were those ‘threats’ madeIJ And, why did Mr Moily time his decision to reveal the matter with the accusation that senior Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta has levelled against him: That of pushing to offer huge concessions to a leading Indian corporate which is into oil explorationIJ
The Minister has gone a step further and claimed that even his predecessors faced similar threats during their tenure. Mr Moily ought to lodge a complaint with the relevant authorities if there is a grain of truth in what he has said. It is strange that the Congress and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have barely responded to their own Minister's grave allegation. A Congress spokesperson washed the party's hands of the matter by stating that it is for Mr Moily to “explain”, while the Prime Minister, as usual, has remained silent. He ought to say something; after all, a senior Minister of his Cabinet has levelled a grave accusation that points to pressures being brought by certain outsiders to determine national policies — not just now but all through the tenure of the regime. But, given that Mr Moily has as yet shown no indication of elaborating on his allegation, leaving it for “history to speak”, it will be assumed that the Minister's claim is no more than a red herring to divert public attention from the attacks that he faces from the Opposition, especially Mr Dasgupta.
The CPI leader has alleged that Mr Moily wants to help out Reliance Industries limited by proposing to raise the domestic gas price from $4.2 per million British thermal units to $6.775 per million British thermal units. The Minister has himself stated that he had pushed before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for the hike on the ground that domestic production needs to be “incentivised”. But what is strange is that Mr Moily should have shown such alacrity in going public with his demand for a raise in domestic gas prices even before the issue had been discussed in the Cabinet and an official opinion was firmed up.
There is no doubt that the Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry has become a hot brick for its occupants to handle in recent years, with domestic and foreign companies fighting for a share in the country's expanding oil sector and the sky-rocketing demand for petroleum products and gas. No Minister in recent years, with the possible exception of Mr Ram Naik during the NDA regime, has completed his full tenure in this ministry. As many as four Ministers have held the portfolio during the last nine years of the UPA rule, and the exit of every Minister has been accompanied by a controversy. Part of the mess lies at the doorsteps of the Government, which has failed to bring about a transparent policy and end the claims and counter-claims of wrongdoing.