Anil remarks baseless and self-serving: RIL

More than a week after Anil Ambani accused the government of bias towards his estranged brother, Mukesh Ambani, in the dispute over gas supply, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) today broke its silence by saying comments by Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) have been made to malign the former’s public image.

The junior Ambani reacted sharply by reiterating his now-famous statement made five years ago that his elder brother “was being misguided by the 3Cs — chelas, chamchas and cronies”. “Whatever be the reason...and I have no idea what it is…corporate greed, personal vendetta, misguided advice from the 3Cs. It is deeply distressing to me at a very personal and emotional level,” Anil Ambani said in a statement.

Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of RIL, and his younger brother, Anil Ambani, the chairman of RNRL, are fighting a case in the Supreme Court over the supply of gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin on the east coast to a power plant in Uttar Pradesh.

Making a public statement for the first time since the matter went to the Supreme Court last month, RIL’s statement, read out by Atul Chandra, president (international business), said, “Anil Ambani and his associates have attempted to convert what are essentially legal issues into public issues for a self-serving media campaign aimed at maligning RIL, as also other venerable institutions of the country for private and personal gain.

We emphatically refute and outrightly reject the baseless, tendentious and motivated allegations and insinuations made by Anil Ambani and his associates against RIL and its chairman Mukesh Ambani.”

RIL said that it is only a contractor in the KG basin engaged by the government to harness the basin’s hydrocarbon assets in the best interest of the nation.

“As contractor to the government operating one of the largest and logistically one of the most difficult deep water gas discoveries anywhere in the world, we have at all times acted with a full sense of responsibility and in complete compliance with all obligations attached to our role as the contractor,” Chandra said.

The statement said an investment of Rs 32,000 crore has been made in developing the KG basin after the de-merger of Reliance Industries in 2005.

 “As law abiding and responsible corporate citizen, RIL has chosen to refrain from reacting to the malicious propaganda unleashed by Anil Ambani in the national media and shall continue to exercise restraint. We hope that Anil Ambani and his associates will also exercise similar restraint and leave the matter to be decided by the Supreme Court,” Chandra said.

In his statement issued after RIL’s coments, J P Chalasani, chief executive officer of Reliance Power, said “With no possible defence on merits, RIL has resorted to vague generalities and not provided a single specific response to grave charges.”

“The only private and personal gains are unfortunately to RIL and its promoters – through the surreptitious and deceitful appropriation of the gas transportation company from publicly owned RIL to private hands, at the cost of RIL’s 26 lakh shareholders,” Chalasani added.