CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta on Friday said Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily was talking a “bundle of lies and pretending innocence” on favouritsm to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries. Dasgupta was rebutting Moily’s claim on Thursday that he was not trying provide increased price of natural gas on retrospective effect.
In a statement issued here, the veteran CPI leader said Moily was clearly bypassing Cabinet decision as well as directives of Election Commission. Few days back, Dasgupta urged Prime Minister and Election Commission to prevent Moily’s dubious moves to allot largesse to Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries limited (RIl).
“Moily overruled all the senior officials and ordered that the increase in prices be notified on 17th May and be applied retrospectively from April 1. This is inspite of the fact that the decision to defer the gas price increase for this quarter had already been communicated to Reliance, Fertiliser Ministry and other stake holders. May I ask Moily who has given him the authority to defy the Cabinet decision and the Election CommissionIJ” said Dasgupta.
He ridiculed Moily for the “utterly false” claims on the role of “some lobbies” working against Petroleum Ministry. “This is an old trick being replayed by Moily and deserves to be treated with utmost contempt. He made a similar allegation last year and I had challenged him to name the so called import lobbies and vested interests that were purportedly supporting me. Of course, he did not (or rather could not) name any such lobbies.
“The fact of the matter is that 90% of oil import is done by the PSUs under the Petroleum Ministry and if there is indeed any import lobby in them, it is the job of the Petroleum Minister to uncover them and bring it before the country. Of course these ghost lobbies have been periodically been re-incarnated by Moily when he is unable to answer the substantive allegations against him. Further Moily’s theory, probably his only original contribution to the public discourse on gas prices, that by giving humungous profits to Reliance, we would be ensuring the energy security of the country, has been completely discredited to merit further response from my side,” said Dasgupta.
The CPI leader blamed Moily for shunting out and intimidating several bold officers in Petroleum Ministry. “Moily’s tenure will be remembered for the brazenness with which he operated in forcing the gas price increase which will result in an increase in subsidy by Rs2,00,000 crore for the country. In the process, he brooked no opposition and overruled his senior bureaucrats on substantive issues more than 25 times,” said Dasgupta.